Greenwood Business Man Charged with Solicitation to Commit Arson
INDIANAPOLIS - Joseph H. Hogsett, United States Attorney, announced today that on
November 18, 2010, Daniel Annee, 46, of Greenwood, Ind., was charged in U.S. District Court
with solicitation to commit arson. The charge follows an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF
), and the joint Indianapolis Metropolitan Police
Department / Indianapolis Fire Department, Fire Investigations Section.
The charging document filed yesterday alleges that, in late July 2010, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives received information from a confidential source that Annee intended to burn down a building he co &mdash owned located in the 400 block of East Hanna Avenue, Indianapolis, for the purpose of fraudulently collecting insurance proceeds.
During the course of their investigation, agents and investigators determined that on July 13, 2010, Annee directed a business partner to obtain an insurance policy for the Hanna Avenue building. Thereafter, on August 9, 2010, the source met with Annee at Annee's office on Fry Road in Greenwood, Ind. During their conversation, Annee and the source discussed setting fire to the Hanna Avenue building, the insurance policy on the building, and the need to be certain there was an insurance policy in place before there was a fire. Later in the day on August 9, 2010, Annee contacted his business partner and asked further questions about the insurance coverage on the Hanna Avenue building. The business partner assured Annee that an insurance policy on that property had been in effect for the past three weeks.
On August 10, 2010, the source met again with Annee, at Annee’s office in Greenwood. Near the end of the conversation, Annee instructed the source to see what he could do about arranging to have the Hanna Avenue building burned.
On the morning of August 12, 2010, the source and an undercover ATF agent met with
Annee at his office in Greenwood. During that meeting, Annee advised the undercover agent
that he wanted the Hanna Avenue building burned down. The undercover agent asked Annee if
it was a problem to come up with the $5,000 payment the undercover agent wanted to set the fire,
and Annee responded it is the best $5,000 I'll ever spend.
Shortly after meeting with the undercover agent on August 12, 2010, Annee telephoned his business partner and advised that Annee was going to show the Hanna Avenue building to a prospective tenant later in the evening of August 12, 2010. Annee asked his business partner to leave a building key under the mat at the exterior of the building entrance and to leave the building’s alarm off.
On the evening of August 12, 2010, the undercover agent met with Annee at the Hanna Avenue building. After giving the undercover agent a tour of the building, Annee told the undercover agent that he wanted the fire set Sunday, August 15, 2010. Annee then gave the undercover agent $500 as an advance payment, and also provided the undercover agent a key to the Hanna Avenue building. Annee was arrested by ATF agents and IMPD /IFD investigators on August 13, 2010.
According to Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Rinka, who is prosecuting the case for the government, Annee faces a maximum of ten years in prison, a $125,000 fine, and three years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. An arraignment hearing will be scheduled at a later date before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.
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