Where are you watching the game today?

BACKGROUND

In July of 1998, Creech began operating a night club called Rick’s Place located in Denton, Texas.   He leased the premises from Peggy Harvey, the owner of the building.   The contents of the building were owned by Rick Reid.   Because of declining liquor sales at Rick’s Place between the time Creech began operating the club and August of 2000, Creech had difficulty paying all his bills on time.   Several of his checks had "bounced" due to insufficient funds, his liquor license was revoked, and the Texas Comptroller’s office executed several seizures of cash because of overdue taxes.   By August 16, 2000, Creech owed approximately $ 70,000 to various creditors.

In early August, Creech approached a disk jockey or deejay named Reese Haisler, who had at one time worked for Creech but had since left Rick’s Place, about the possibility of Haisler returning to Rick’s Place as a manager.   Creech also asked Haisler to help remodel the club to improve business.   Haisler accepted Creech’s proposal.   Creech later asked Haisler to help him set fire to the bar so that it would look like a fire had accidentally started during the remodeling.   In that way, Creech could collect insurance money to help him with the remodeling process.   Haisler expressed discomfort with the idea but proceeded to help Creech remove items from the bar that Creech did not want burned in the fire.

On Monday, August 14, Creech increased the limits of the insurance policy he had obtained in June of 2000.   He raised the recovery limit on his business personal property from $50,000 to $150,000.   That very day, Creech closed Rick’s Place for renovations.   Haisler and Creech purchased materials and arranged the club to look like it was being remodeled.   That evening, Creech told Haisler that he would set up the fire to go off sometime after Creech and Haisler had left the building.   He also said he was going to leave town under the false pretense that he had "family issues" to attend to.

The next day, Creech called his brother’s long-time friend, Charles Luff, from Arizona and told him that he had attempted to burn down the club but was not sure that his attempt was successful.   He asked Charles to check the building, and if it had not burned down, to set another fire.   In exchange, Creech promised to pay $10,000 of the insurance proceeds to Charles.   Charles discussed the offer with his twin brother, John, and they agreed to do the job.   Creech told the twins that he had left several halogen lamps near some paint, paint thinner, and newspaper.   He said he had tried to get the halogen lamps to ignite the newspaper and asked them to re-attempt the same set-up.

At about 4:00 am on August 16, the Luff twins retrieved a key to the club that Haisler, according to instructions from Creech, had left behind the building in which the club was located.   They attempted to ignite a fire using the halogen lamps in the club, but they were unsuccessful.   Consequently, the Luff twins decided to light the newspaper on fire with cigarette lighters, which proved successful.   A few days after the fire, Creech called his insurance agent and requested that a claim be filed.

Creech was indicted in a seven-count indictment.   Count 1 charged conspiracy to (1) commit arson in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i), (2) use fire to commit a felony in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(h), and (3) commit mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341.   Count 2 charged Creech with arson in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(I) and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2.   Count 3 charged Creech with using fire to commit a felony (mail fraud) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(h) and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2.   The remaining counts charged Creech with four counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2.   The jury convicted on all counts except Count 2 (arson).

I miss that place i loved their pizza… that and bagheri’s i spent so many nights just eating their bread and smoking on their hookahs

I am on your bandwagon.
Next year? Go Red Sox.