Ex-car dealer sent to prison for having McHenry business torched

A onetime used car dealer convicted of paying a former employee to torch his McHenry dealership for more than $500,000 in insurance was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.

John T. Krawec, 45, received the minimum term on his conviction last year on charges of residential arson and insurance fraud stemming from the April 24, 2006, fire that gutted his All Truck Stop dealership, 3021 W. Route 120, and an apartment above it.

Authorities said Krawec was in deep financial difficulty when he had the dealership set on fire, hoping to garner about $524,000 from insurance.

"He was only thinking about himself." said Philip Hiscock, criminal division chief for the McHenry County State's Attorney. "He wasn't thinking about the person who lived in the building, he wasn't thinking about the firefighters who had to put it out, he wasn't thinking about the other business owners there. He was thinking about himself and he did it for money."

Krawec's attorney, Wayne Brucar, argued that it would be unfair to give his client a long prison term when the man who started the fire, Johnsburg resident Philip Brakefield, was never charged because he cooperated with prosecutors.

"Somehow my client's action is much more heinous than that of the person who committed the crime?" Brucar asked.

Brakefield, a former Krawec employee, said his ex-boss paid him $1,000 - with a promise of more money to come - if he set the dealership on fire.