Brothers Imad Dawara, Bahaa Dawara Say They Set Fire That Badly Damaged Stores, Apartments In Old City In 2018
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) -- Two brothers admitted in court Thursday to setting fire to their hookah lounge as they struggled with business losses, causing more than $20 million in damages to a retail block in the city's historic area. Federal prosecutors say 32-year-old Imad Dawara, of Swarthmore, and 40-year-old Bahaa Dawara, of Woodlyn, had taken out $750,000 in insurance weeks before the blaze.
The February 2018 fire burned for nine hours and left the block of restaurants, retail stores and apartments in Old City shuttered for months. Approximately 160 people were displaced, and a few of the businesses never reopened.
The Dawaras, who used gasoline to start the blaze, would serve nine years in prison and pay $22 million in restitution under the terms of the plea agreements entered Thursday. Their sentencing is set for June.
"Just over three years ago, the fire on Chestnut Street permanently altered many people's lives, some losing their homes and livelihoods," Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said. "If not for the heroism of the Philadelphia Fire Department, the devastation from that night would have been unthinkable and much more extensive. Even though many victims of this fire can never be made completely whole, I hope that today's admission of guilt by the defendants gives these individuals and the City of Philadelphia at large some sense of relief and justice."
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