Sanford man pleads guilty to setting apartment building on fire

SANFORD, Maine — A neighborhood man has pleaded responsible to setting an condo constructing on hearth on Spruce Avenue final yr.

In line with U.S. Lawyer Darcie N. McElwee, Thomas McGinn, 49, of Sanford, pleaded responsible to arson in U.S. District Court docket in Portland on Tuesday.

In line with court docket information, Sanford firefighters responded to a blaze at 38 Spruce Avenue at roughly 3:30 a.m. on Could 5, 2021. Tenants have been dwelling contained in the construction when the hearth was set, Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss mentioned on the time. No one was harm within the incident.

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Regardless of in depth injury, the firefighters have been in a position to save the constructing from collapse. An condo occupied by McGinn on the time skilled probably the most important injury.

Police arrested McGinn the subsequent day.

“When interviewed by investigators, McGinn confessed to deliberately beginning the hearth utilizing gasoline and lighter fluid as accelerants,” McElwee said in a information launch.

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McGinn defined that he had supposed to “burn the constructing down,” in accordance with the information launch.

McGinn is going through between 5 and 20 years in jail and a tremendous as much as $250,000.

McGinn will probably be sentenced after the U.S. Probation Workplace completes a presentence investigation report. A federal district court docket decide will decide any sentence after contemplating the U.S. Sentencing Pointers and different statutory components.

The Sanford Police Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Maine State Fireplace Marshal’s Workplace labored collectively to research the case.