Used-car dealer’s 
arson trial starts

WOODSTOCK – Prosecutors are trying to prove that a McHenry used-car dealership owner offered an on-and-off employee part of an anticipated insurance claim to torch his business in April 2006.

John T. Krawec, 45, asked another man to start the fire that damaged the dealership and an upstairs apartment and then filed a false insurance claim seeking more than $100,000, prosecutors said during opening statements Wednesday. Krawec is standing trial this week on charges of residential arson, insurance fraud, arson, conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy.

Krawec, who was facing financial hardships, expected to get almost $1 million in an insurance payout, so he offered the employee, Philip Brakefield, between $50,000 and $100,000 to burn the business while Krawec was in Wisconsin, said McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Sharyl Eisenstein.

They planned to start the fire April 22 or 23, Eisenstein said. Krawec would check himself into a hospital out-of-state to provide an alibi, but Brakefield postponed the fire because someone else was on the property. He started it early April 24 after driving to Wisconsin to ask Krawec for more gas money, Eisenstein said.

Ultimately, Krawec filed a claim for more than $500,000 to Pekin Insurance Company for the business and a claim for about $29,000 to State Farm for personal items, Eisenstein said.

Defense attorney Michael Johnson said Brakefield acted alone in starting the fire and only told police about Krawec’s alleged involvement after police promised that Brakefield wouldn’t be charged. McHenry County court records show that Brakefield was convicted of a 2005 felony drug possession and a 1991 forgery.

“He did this on his own without the aid, without the incentive, and without the prodding of Mr. Krawec,” Johnson said.

Johnson also disputed that Krawec’s business, The All Truck Stop Inc. at 3021 W. Route 120 in McHenry, was in severe financial straits. He said Krawec allowed the books and business to slide into disarray when he got sick in early 2006, but the overdrawn accounts and other problems were a small fraction of the business’s value.

“This was his bread and butter,” Johnson said. “He knew nothing else. He had no other businesses.”

The bench trial is expected to continue this afternoon before Judge Sharon Prather. In a bench trial, the judge, not a jury, determines the defendant’s guilt.

Charges of conspiracy and insurance fraud also are pending against Anna Julecki, 29, Krawec’s girlfriend who lived in the upstairs apartment with her children. Her bench trial is scheduled for Sept. 10 and 11.