In early 1975, I arranged for the purchase of the Fifth Avenue Inn Restaurant, located near downtown Pittsburgh. The money for the investment was provided by my parents. They invested nearly $70,0000.00 in the business and additionally assumed a $100,000.00 mortgage on the building. This represented a substantial portion of their savings. The business did not do as well as I had expected. Until the last month or two before the fire, it consistently lost money. I never should have asked my parents to make this investment. I had just graduated from law school, had a full time accounting position, and was teaching accounting part time at the University of Pittsburgh. The restaurant became the straw that broke the camel’s back. There simply weren’t enough hours in each day for me to get everything done. By the fall of 1975, I was completely worn out. I needed to put more time into my career and marriage. Something had to give. Originally I made an attempt to sell the restaurant but nothing developed quickly enough. It would have taken several months to sell the restaurant and I felt so frazzled that I needed to find an immediate solution. I foolishly arranged to have the restaurant burned in late November, 1975. I planned the arson, made the preparations, and hired Clarence Miller to actually set the fire. No one was injured as a result. I never told anyone, family or attorneys, that I had arranged the arson until many years later. By then, my parents had recovered a large part of their investment from insurance proceeds, and were no longer imperiled by the mortgage on the restaurant building. When I decided to have the restaurant burned I did not have my normal judgment. I was worn out and grabbed for instant relief. I rationalized that no one would be hurt and hired Miller because I had no experience.
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