Amid the haze of usual Halloween shenanigans, a Leavenworth church was burning on the night of Oct. 31, 2008. That’s because the church’s music director, Carva Lee White, set fire to it.
The 45-year-old Kansas City, Mo. resident admitted to igniting the blaze at the Sunflower Missionary Baptist Church in an attempt to cash in on the insurance policy.
About a week prior to the fire, White informed the pastor of the church of his plan to burn down the building to collect kickbacks from contractors who would then submit inflated bids for the repair work. The church’s insurance would pay for the repairs, and pay it did. The Church Mutual Insurance Company mailed a check to the Sunflower Missionary Baptist Church for $103,236 to cover the damages.
An investigation by the Kansas Fire Marshal’s office later determined that the fire had been intentionally set in various locations throughout the church.
White was convicted on Dec. 15, 2009 and pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of attempted mail fraud and one count of using arson in an attempt to commit mail fraud. His sentencing is scheduled for March. Depending on the outcome, White faces the maximum “penance” of 10 years in prison for the arson charge and 20 years for the attempted mail fraud count.