KANSAS CITY, MO – A desperate attempt to cash in on a failing business deal landed 70-year-old Mia Lee Jamison of Gladstone, Missouri, a three-year federal prison sentence. Jamison was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner after pleading guilty to soliciting a crime of violence – specifically arson – and lying to federal investigators.
Court records reveal Jamison approached an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in April of 2019, offering a cool $150,000 to burn down Mia Plaza, her commercial building near 39th Street and Bell Avenue. The building housed three businesses: 39th World of Spirits, Bob Wasabi Kitchen, and Sahara Sheesha Lounge. Jamison, facing a civil lawsuit and impending loss of ownership, allegedly saw fire as a way to collect on a $2 million insurance policy.
The deal wasn’t just about the money. Jamison explicitly requested the fire appear accidental and demanded it be set between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. to minimize risk to the tenants. She even fronted the undercover agent a $3,500 deposit. According to prosecutors, Jamison had already disabled the building’s video surveillance in anticipation of the blaze. Investigators captured all interactions with audio and video recordings.
On April 28th, 2019, Jamison reiterated her demands for the immediate burning of Mia Plaza. The next morning, at approximately 4 a.m., ATF agents swooped in, confronting Jamison at her residence. She vehemently denied any involvement in planning or requesting an arson attack, repeatedly claiming she hadn’t hired anyone to burn the building.
The ruse was up. Agents informed Jamison that Mia Plaza was, in fact, still standing. She was immediately arrested and charged. “She thought she could get away with it,” said a source close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity. “She underestimated the ATF.”
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Trey Alford and Patrick D. Daly prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Kansas City Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Jamison will serve three years in prison without parole, followed by three years of supervised release. The building, thankfully, remains intact, a monument to a failed scheme and a woman’s desperate gamble gone wrong.
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