Man sentenced to 15 years for arson of Tulsa health club

Posted November 8, 2012 2:13 pm by

A Broken Arrow man was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison on arson and other federal charges related to a January 2006 fire that destroyed a 38,000-square-foot health club in Tulsa.

Sammy Joe Perryman, 70, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan to pay $125,557 in restitution to an insurance company, $65,000 in criminal forfeiture judgments plus a $900 penalty.

Perryman was indicted in July 2011 in connection with the Jan. 22, 2006, fire at Vintage Health Quest, 5122 S. Vandalia Ave.

The fire gutted the business, previously known as the Tulsa Athletic Club. It caused about $2 million worth of damage, but no one was injured. Investigators declared the fire an arson within days.

Prosecutors said Perryman was an owner of Vintage Health Quest. A grand jury alleged that he submitted false information, including a bogus inventory list, to an insurance company after the fire.

The prosecution alleged at a trial in May that Perryman “had a million reasons” to set the fire – a reference to the value of an insurance policy.

The jury found Perryman guilty on all seven counts regarding the fire.

Perryman had filed for bankruptcy in May 2005 and pleaded guilty March 2 to bankruptcy fraud and money-laundering charges.

He admitted that without the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s approval, he sold the property on which the health club sat in November 2006 and then concealed from the court more than $91,000 in proceeds.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Gallant stated in a court pleading that Perryman and his business entities “were all in extreme financial distress” at the time of the fire.

Perryman had been free on bond but was taken into custody at the conclusion of Wednesday’s hearing.

Perryman’s attorney, Chad Richardson, said the length of the sentence for Perryman – who Eagan said takes 12 medications – means his client likely will die in prison.

 

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