ROCKFORD – An Oregon man was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison Wednesday for burning down a competitor's store and recruiting others to help him do it.

Samer Aljabari, 23, sat quietly in federal court in Rockford as U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala sentenced him to concurrent sentences of 110 months for arson and conspiracy to commit arson.

He also must serve 3 years of supervised release after his term and pay $56,000 in restitution. There is no parole in the federal system.

"The evidence shows there was significant planning and recruiting before the fire," Kapala said. "The recruiting began 2 months before the fire was started. This was a cold, heartless crime, and he planned it."

Aljabari was one of four men charged with the Oct. 4, 2007, arson of the Oregon Smoke Shop, 210 S. Fourth St. The fire caused $56,000 in damages. No one was injured, and the business has since reopened at the same location.

Aljabari's father, Sami, owns Sam's Wholesale Tobacco & Gifts, 204 W. Washington St. The stores are four blocks from each other. Samer was managing his father's store and living behind it when the rival store was burned.

A jury found him guilty Feb. 26. During that 4-day trial, Samer claimed he was framed and then blackmailed by three Oregon men who, he said, actually planned and started the fire.

But several witnesses testified that they heard Samer ask others to burn down the Smoke Shop in exchange for money.

Earlier this year, co-defendants, Matthew R. McMeekan, 21, and Christopher R. Taylor, 20, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit arson, and Harold Lamar Rains, 20, pleaded guilty to perjury.

Taylor was sentenced to 4 years in prison, and McMeekan received 3 years. Rains was sentenced to 21 months.

The arson charges were filed in federal court because the Oregon Smoke Shop is a commercial building involved in interstate commerce.