Train Hero's Father Charged In California Arson Fraud Scheme

(AP) — Three people including the father of French train hero Spencer Stone have been indicted in a scheme to set fire to commercial buildings in the Sacramento area in order to collect insurance money.

An indictment unsealed Friday alleges that 57-year-old Jamal Shehadeh was the ringleader, setting seven fires at six commercial buildings where he operated businesses then collecting over $1.5 million in insurance proceeds. His charges include seven counts of arson and 52 counts of fraud.

Prosecutors say that Stone's 57-year-old father Brian J. Stone was a business consultant for Shehadeh and helped with the fraudulent insurance claims. He's charged with 13 counts of fraud.

Spencer Stone is one of three men who tackled a gunman with ties to radical Islam on a Paris-bound passenger train in August. The incident made him an international hero.