Pants that caught fire lead to KC arson plea

A Kansas City man linked to a house fire by DNA that he left in his burning sweatpants pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to arson and insurance fraud conspiracy.

John S. Wayne, 31, and five other defendants, all of whom have pleaded guilty, bought five Kansas City homes and then torched them for the insurance, prosecutors alleged.

In April 2011, a witness reported seeing Wayne running from a fire, his pants ablaze. Wayne took off the pants and left them in the street.

Later that day, Wayne went to Research Medical Center for treatment of severe burns to his legs. Investigators extracted genetic material from the pants and a pair of boots found in the street and matched it to Wayne’s DNA. The pants and boots also had evaporated gasoline on them.

Prosecutors said insurance companies lost $434,938 to the scheme.

Mark Morris, mmorris@kcstar.com

This story was originally published March 16, 2015 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Pants that caught fire lead to KC arson plea."