NEW LONDON, Conn. - A Connecticut judge has sentenced a former volunteer firefighter to 14 years in prison for setting three houses in Mystic on fire in the summer of 2008.
Twenty-three-year-old William Celtruda of Groton appeared in New London Superior Court on Wednesday as Judge Susan Handy handed down the sentence, which was part of a plea bargain he took in November.
Two of the three homes were occupied when Celtruda set the fires, but no one was injured. Handy told Celtruda he was lucky no one died.
Celtruda, who was a probationary firefighter with the Mystic Fire Department, admitted he set the fires to prove himself to fellow firefighters.
He said Wednesday that he was "apologetic and extremely remorseful," and blamed his actions, in part, on his drug abuse.
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