Independence business owner heads to prison for conspiring to burn down rival’s store
The owner of an Independence gold-buying business has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison in part for conspiring to burn down a rival’s business along with the home of another man.
William “Bill” Joseph Reneau, 44, of Overland Park, was sentenced Tuesday to six years and six months. U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark also ordered him to pay $167,085 in restitution, according to prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri.
Reneau — who owns Gold Rush Exchange, which has two locations in Independence — pleaded guilty in August to one count of arson and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, prosecutors said.
In doing so, Reneau admitted he paid others to destroy Bobby Jackson’s Trading, which is operated by a former employee of Reneau’s, as well as a house owned by his wife’s ex-husband.
Reneau, who had prior felony convictions, also admitted he kept a shotgun underneath a computer at his store, prosecutors said.
Last year, Randell Eugene Yeager Jr., 47, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for his role in the conspiracy. He admitted he was hired on two occasions to damage the rival’s business.
In 2017, Yeager drove a stolen Jeep to the store and backed into the building, causing $10,000 in damage, prosecutors said. He also later used containers of gasoline to set fire to the front of the store, which caused about $5,000 in damage.
Reneau paid Yeager $800 to set the fire, prosecutors said. He also paid another person $500 to set fire to an unoccupied house on South Ranson Street, authorities said.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 5:45 PM.
