Woman sentenced to 7 years for apartment complex fire
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) – A 28-year-old woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison for setting fire to a 20 unit building at a D’Iberville apartment complex.
Judge Chris Schmidt said Thursday he considered the severity of the crime — first-degree arson — in imposing a 20-year sentence, with 13 years suspended and five years on supervised release.
The Sun Herald reports Harrison County prosecutors had recommended the sentence after Krystal Gonzalez decided on the second day of her trial last week to plead guilty. Schmidt also ordered Gonzalez to pay $1.2 million in restitution.
Schmidt said he realized Gonzalez did not intend to burn down a building when she set fire to her boyfriend’s shirt in their third-floor apartment on the night of Fat Tuesday 2014, but the act itself was intentional.
