Fire Buff Faces Up to 60 Years for Arson Spree
A 28-year-old fire buff who authorities said led a band of fellow “sparkies” on a 14-month arson spree was sentenced Thursday to up to 60 years in state and federal prisons for his conviction on multiple charges.
“These were either acts of terrorism or sheer malice, I don’t know which,” U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel said in sentencing Donald F. Stackpole, of Scituate, to a 40-year federal prison term.
Stackpole, who often arrived at fires in a red station wagon and dressed as a fire chief, was convicted in federal court Nov. 30 on five arson counts and 12 related charges in connection with the fires, part of the largest arson ring in the nation’s history.
Earlier in the day, Stackpole pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to six additional state arson counts and was sentenced to a 19- to 20-year term at the Walpole state prison.
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