West Virginia Agent Pleads Guilty to Burning Down His Own Home

A West Virginia man has pleaded guilty in federal court to aiding and abetting arson and conspiracy to tamper with a witness.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of West Virginia said in a news release that 36-year-old Jimmie Arnold Harper Jr. of Hurricane appeared in court on Tuesday. Prosecutors say Harper, an insurance agent, admitted he arranged for a fire to be set at his own home last September.

He also met with witnesses in December in a kidnapping case in which a friend of his was charged.

Harper is to be sentenced Aug. 10. He faces seven to 60 years in prison.