A former Riverside liquor store owner who paid to have his competitor’s shop across the street burned down was sentenced Friday to nearly 12 years in state prison.
Munir “Mark” Hawara, who owned Tyler Market at 4773 Tyler St., paid two men to set four fires at Sunny Liquor & Market in the 4800 block of Tyler between January and November 2016, resulting in more than $200,000 in damage, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Sunny Liquor’s surveillance cameras captured the men throwing Molotov cocktails at the building, then pouring a flammable substance on the structure and lighting it on fire.
Hawara, 59, of Moreno Valley was convicted in June 2018 of four counts of arson, with several sentencing enhancements.
He had been out of custody on $1 million bail while awaiting sentencing.