A Sterling, Virginia man accused of intentionally setting a 2025 house fire that killed his neighbor was indicted Monday on a charge of first-degree murder.
Jacob Bogatin was arrested on Oct. 28, 2025, by the Loudoun County Sheriff鈥檚 Office a few days after the fire on the 20000 block of Riptide Square.
Fire and sheriff’s investigators said he purposely set the fire, which burned two townhomes and damaged a third. The body of 36-year-old Madelaine Samantha Akers was found during the investigation.
According to the charging documents, Bogatin filed an insurance claim the day after the fire for more than twice what was owed on the recently foreclosed home. He was also identified as a suspect by surveillance footage and a bomb-sniffing dog. A bottle of a flammable liquid and a grill lighter were found in his vehicle, prosecutors said.
Bogatin also faces charges in a federal fraud case.
Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania say Bogatin repeatedly filed false and misleading applications for a COVID pandemic program that provided low-rate emergency business loans in amounts up to $500,000. In March, he was charged with four counts of theft of government money.
And in 2002, Bogatin and three other men were indicted in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on charges including mail fraud, money laundering, and racketeer influenced and corrupt organization conspiracy counts, which are often used in organized crime prosecutions.
The case never went to trial because Bogatin’s three co-defendants fled. They remain fugitives to this day.
One co-defendant, Semion Mogilevich, was 聽as “a transnational organized crime boss operating from Russia” and other countries.
After the most recent Pennsylvania charges were filed, Loudoun County prosecutor Bob Anderson and Sheriff Mike Chapman coordinated with federal law enforcement officials to ensure that Bogatin will remain in the custody of the Loudoun County detention center.
“Any potential future transfer to federal custody will be temporary and of limited duration, and will not interfere with the charges Bogatin faces in Loudoun for the death of Madelaine S. Akers,” according to an April 1 statement from Anderson鈥檚 office.
First-degree murder is a Class 2 felony in Virginia, punishable by a mandatory minimum of 20 years to a maximum of life in prison.
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