PA Arsonist Sentenced for Burning Down Home to Collect Insurance and Pay Restitution for Burning Previous Home

According to Insurance Journal, Emmajean Mowery of Kittanning, PA has officially been sentenced for a repeat arson.

The kicker? She intentionally set fire to her rented home in 2023 to collect an insurance payout, in hopes that the money would help her pay off previously court-ordered restitution for burning a prior home. Pennsylvania Attorney General, Dave Sunday, also indicated that Mowery increased her insurance policy just weeks before she set fire to the second home in 2023.

Mowery was previously prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud section for the first arson, and the second was referred to their office by an insurance investigator.

Insurance Journal writes, “According to the investigation, Mowery set fire to the rental property she was living at in Rayburn Township in November 2023. She told the insurance company that someone else living in the home accidentally started the fire. After investigating her claims, the insurance company determined that the fire was intentionally set,” and “Mowery failed to disclose that she was previously convicted of insurance fraud on her insurance application. At the time of the 2023 fire, Mowery still owed around $57,000 in restitution from her prior conviction.”

Mowery plead guilty to two counts of arson and one count of insurance fraud, all of which are felonies, she will serve up three years in prison, and she has also been ordered to pay over $110,000 in restitution to the insurance company.

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