Massachusetts Restaurant Owner Sentenced to Four Years for Insurance Fraud

A Leominster, Mass., man who set fire to his own restaurant to collect the insurance money has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Jeffrey Cordio, who owned the West End Diner, was also sentenced in federal court to three years of probation.

Cordio pleaded guilty in March to a charge of conspiracy to use fire to commit mail fraud for filing the fraudulent insurance claim.

Cordio and a former restaurant employee were seen on surveillance video from a nearby business driving to the diner in Cordio’s truck in November 2013, going in and out several times, before driving away as smoke poured from the building.

Prosecutors say Cordio needed the insurance money “due to significant financial distress and a desire to relocate to Florida.”

He apologized in court.