Sick,..Sick,...Sick,..!

By way of GrassrootsPA:

Fireman jailed for 3 barn blazes
Solanco volunteer admits setting, then fighting fires.

By JANET KELLEY, Staff Writer

A young volunteer fireman tearfully apologized in court today for setting fire to three barns in southern Lancaster County, telling the judge he wanted to turn his life around.

Lancaster County Judge David Ashworth told Travis Michael Pierce that he can do that, but first he will have to serve his punishment for the crime, including spending a total of 3½ to 8 years in state prison.

"I want to apologize to everyone for what I've done," Pierce, 20, of North East, Md., told Ashworth this morning. "There is no excuse for what I did. It's all wrong...I want to live my life the way it should be, get counseling or whatever I need."

Pierce was a volunteer with the Robert Fulton Fire Company when he set the fires in October and December 2007, and then helped extinguish them.

Ashworth told Pierce that he would have the opportunity for education, training and counseling in prison, but it was up to Pierce whether he chooses "to be a productive member of society or not" when he gets out.

In addition to sentencing Pierce to prison time for the three counts of arson, two counts of burglary, and one count of making false statements to police, Ashworth ordered Pierce to pay $97,270 restitution.

State police charged Pierce on Dec. 19, 2007, the day the third barn was set on fire, causing an estimated $160,000 damage to the Fulton Township farm on Pilottown Road. Pierce has been held in Lancaster County Prison since his arrest.

The other two barn fires were in October 2007.

The Bitter American fumes:

A-holes like this rank right up there with pedophiles in the firefighting community.