Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Two plead guilty in burning of sofa store
Jay Aneja, whose family owned the store and who also faces charges, is thought to be in India.
Two more defendants pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Roanoke to charges tied to last year's burning of the Weekend Sofa Outlet store on Williamson Road.
Sidney Montre Terry, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail fraud in connection with an insurance claim filed after the fire, and Jason Ronald Varona, 23, pleaded guilty to concealing a felony.
The two had faced a variety of arson and conspiracy charges.
In March, Michael Antwan Lee, 43, pleaded guilty to maliciously using fire to damage a building and to being a felon in possession of a gun.
Still at large is the final defendant in the case, businessman Jay Aneja, whose family owned the furniture store and who investigators say crafted the arson plan in order to collect insurance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Waering, who is prosecuting the case, said Aneja is thought to be in New Delhi, in his native India.
Lee, who worked on security systems at Aneja's businesses, has testified that Aneja hired him to burn Weekend Sofa Outlet.
Prosecutors have said Lee recruited Terry and Varona, and the three men loaded furniture out of the business, along with records that would show its inventory. They took some of the furniture to their residences, then started for Richmond, where they planned to sell the rest.
But the truck broke down on Interstate 64 and Aneja had to come pick up Lee, Terry and Varona and bring them back to Roanoke.
While Aneja took Varona home, Lee and Terry bought beer, went to the furniture store, and drank and slept. Then they sprayed graffiti around the business, started fires in four locations and went home, prosecutors have said.
The blaze on Aug. 3, 2008, caused more than $800,000 worth of damage to Weekend Sofa Outlet, to the rented building that housed the furniture store and to neighboring businesses. No people were hurt in the fire.
Aneja faces an array of arson, fraud and conspiracy charges, as well as a charge of falsely representing himself to be a U.S. citizen.
Sentencing for Lee is scheduled for Sept. 1. Sentencing dates have not been set for Varona and Terry.




