By Dan Verbeck
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-972751.mp3
KANSAS CITY, MO. – The prospect of a fourth suspected arsonist has been fleshed-out in the 2008 fire that destroyed Kansas City's Hereford House Restaurant.
Murky photos from surveillance video taken inside the restaurant show a man with a flashlight and what may be flames in the foreground. This is the man the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wants to find.
Special Agent Trista Frederick says there are identifiable traits in the man, because --"usually people who know someone well can recognize somebody, even from not the most perfect picture."
An ATF reward for arrest of his unknown man is $10 thousand.
This week two men in addition to the restaurant owner have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of arson, fraud and conspiracy.
Insurance claims on what was left of the 20th and Main Hereford House amounted to some 2 and a half million dollars.
One of the men indicted this week on an arson charge has served prison time for manslaughter. The Kansas City Star reports 56 year old Vincent Pisciotta shot a man in the back and left him to die and was indicted for first degree murder. Pisciotta pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, was sentenced to 15 years and served four months.
Prosecutors will argue Pisciotta and co defendant Mark A. Sorrentino be jailed pending trial.