PROVIDENCE, R.I. –Daniel E. Saad, 51, of Spencer, Mass., today was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for devising and executing a scheme to burn down his Glocester, R.I., restaurant, Snow’s Clam Box Restaurant and Pub, and then attempting to collect on an insurance policy worth nearly one million dollars.
Saad was also ordered to serve one year supervised release upon completion of his prison term and to pay restitution in the amount of $509,000 to Lloyds of London.
On January 27, 2017, a federal court jury convicted Saad on one count of arson, one count of use of fire to commit wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud. The jury found that Saad set fire to his business shortly after 5:00 a.m. on November 30, 2014, and then initiated insurance claims via email later the same day and on the following day.
According to the government’s evidence presented during a three-week trial, Saad, who owed banks, private lenders and venders nearly $2.5 million dollars, entered the building through an unlocked rear door, spread gasoline in and around a bar area and ignited the gasoline before fleeing the building. A woman who resided in an apartment above the restaurant reported the fire after fleeing from the building.
Acting United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch; Mickey Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Division of ATF; Colonel Ann C. Assumpico, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and Department of Public Safety; and Glocester Police Chief Joseph S. DelPrete announce Saad’s sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr.
According to the government’s evidence, Saad on two occasions told investigators he was at his home in Massachusetts when the fire occurred. During a subsequent interview, he told investigators that he was at his estranged wife’s home in Webster, Mass. On two occasions during interviews with state and federal investigators, Saad’s wife corroborated Saad’s account. However, after being summoned to appear before a federal grand jury and again when testifying during Daniel Saad’s trial, she admitted that Daniel Saad had asked her to provide an alibi for him for the night of the fire. She testified that he was not with her that night.
Cellular data collected and analyzed by law enforcement placed Saad’s cellphone in very close proximity to his restaurant at the time the fire began.
ATF, the Glocester Police Department, Rhode Island State Fire Marshal’s Office and Rhode Island State Police investigated the matter, with the assistance of the Rhode Island Department of the Attorney General and the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland.
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