Jury Quickly Decides Man Guilty Of Arson

A First District Court jury needed only one hour Thursday to convict a Post Falls man of setting a fire at his restaurant.

Richard J. Leferink faces 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine for the first-degree arson conviction. Leferink is scheduled to be sentenced next month by 1st District Judge Gary Haman.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Lansing Haynes argued during the four-day trial that Leferink started the April 14 fire at R-Place Restaurant to collect insurance money.

The fire filled a Seltice Way strip mall with smoke and soot, causing more than $90,000 damage.

, DataTimes MEMO: IDAHO HEADLINE: Restaurateur guilty of torching business