3 plead guilty in burning of Marston store

Jan. 16--GREENSBORO -- Three defendants have pleaded guilty to federal charges related to a 2012 Richmond County convenience store fire.

Napel Ted Houssein, Cleveland Sylvester Cotten Jr. and Angela Rochelle Watkins each entered a guilty plea to a charge of malicious use of explosive materials in United States District Court in Winston-Salem on Jan. 8, according to the office of Ripley Rand, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Richmond County sheriff's deputies responded to reported robbery at the Speedway Food Mart in Marston around 10:22 on Sept. 24, 2012, and found the building engulfed in flames, according to a release. During the investigation, prosecutors say deputies began to suspect the robbery call was staged to cover up the intentional burning of the building.

Investigators determined that Houssein, who was a relative of the store's owner, paid Cotten and Watkins to help him burn the store down, according to federal prosecutors.

Houssein was arrested in Arizona on Aug. 6 last year, according to law enforcement officials. Cotten was arrested on Nov. 5 while serving time on convictions from Moore County, and Watkins was arrested Nov. 18.

Each defendant faces a minimum of five years in federal prison -- with a maximum sentence of 20 years -- up to a $25,000 fine, up to three years of supervised release, restitution and a $100 special assessment.

Cotten and Watkins are scheduled for sentencing on May 17, Houssein on May 19, in United States District Court in Winston-Salem. All three remain in custody pending sentencing.

Records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction show Cotten had been in prison since Feb. 26 on multiple convictions in Moore and Richmond counties: three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon; three counts of possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance; two counts of misdemeanor larceny; one count of selling a Schedule IV controlled substance; one count of possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance; one count of selling a Schedule III controlled substance; and one count of assault on a female.

Cotten was previously convicted of possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance in 1997, selling a Schedule II controlled substance in 1999 -- both felonies -- and one misdemeanor count each of carrying a concealed weapon and aiding and abetting in the discharging of a firearm into an occupied property in 2005.

Neither Watkins or Houssein has any pending charges or past criminal convictions in North Carolina.

Also investigating were the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the N.C. Department of Insurance.

DOI investigators charged the building's owner -- 65-year-old William Jeffery Barnhardt, of West End -- with two felony counts each of insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses last summer, saying he presented false and altered documents in relation to two separate insurance claims filed on the same property in 2011 and 2012, receiving payment from Scottsdale Insurance Co. and the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co.

Court documents show Barnhardt sued Scottsdale Insurance Co. in federal court for breach of contract, seeking recovery for damages to the U.S. 1 Speedway Food Mart.

Barnhardt owned the building but had leased it to Omar Houssein. Shortly after the 2012 fire, Houssein allegedly left the country, and gave Barnhardt written permission to handle any claims on his behalf.

Lawyers for the insurance company argued that Barnhardt could not "recover on his own behalf for damage to the building or any equipment because the policy did not name him as an insured."

According to the federal clerk of court's office, the case was closed Sept. 9, 2014 on a stipulation of dismissal.

Barnhardt's next court date on the fraud charges is scheduled for Feb. 4.

Reach reporter William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.

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