Brookline millionaire charged in 2013 arson plot

A millionaire Brookline developer and restaurant owner was held on $10,000 bail for masterminding an arson plot that destroyed a $2 million home in 2013.

Alan Kaplan, 50, was indicted on Monday for arson of a dwelling, arson of a building accessory before the fact of arson and arson with intent to defraud insurance charges.

The fire broke out at 71 Spooner St. on the evening of July 26, 2013.

Brookline Police arrested Steven McCann, then 29, of Jamaica Plain for burning the home down. Police found McCann suffering from burns and writhing in agony with patches of his skin peeling off that evening. He was hospitalized for over 11 weeks for the burns which injured over 25 percent of his body.

The house, which was vacant at the time of the three-alarm fire, had been at the center of a zoning dispute since 2005, when The Zoning Board revoked the building permits after it determined that the home was 1,000 square feet bigger than allowed by the bylaws. In 2008, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the Land Court ruling in favor of the town, limiting the size and bulk of homes. Police said there was an $800,000 insurance policy on the house, which Kaplan was developing.

Kaplan plead not guilty and will reappear in court on Dec. 17.