70-year-old woman pleads guilty to paying undercover agent to set her KC building on fire
A 70-year-old woman pleaded guilty to attempting to hire an undercover agent to burn down her commercial building in Kansas City, federal prosecutors said this week.
Mia Lee Jamison, of Gladstone, was charged with soliciting a crime of violence and making a false statement to investigators at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. She pleaded guilty to the charges in federal court Thursday.
On April 28, 2019, Jamison met with an undercover agent to discuss the arson, according to court documents.
She told the agent her building, Mia Plaza near the corner of 39th Street and Bell Avenue, had to be burned that night. She was recorded by investigators saying she had removed surveillance cameras from the premises in preparation.
Jamison told the undercover agent that she was losing ownership of the building because of a civil lawsuit and a $1.5 million insurance policy she took out on the property would help pay for it. She provided the agent with a $3,500 deposit to burn down the building and promised him $150,000 to make it look like an accident, documents said.
The agent agreed to set the fire between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. to limit the risk of harming other tenants. The building shared a space with other businesses including 9th World and Spirits, Bob’s Wasabi Kitchen and Sahara Sheesha Lounge.
At 4 a.m. on April 29, investigators contacted Jamison at her home and asked whether she had commissioned someone to destroy the building. Jamison denied the accusations multiple times. After investigators told her that the building was unharmed, she was placed under arrest, documents said.
A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.
