School Arsonist, 21, Sentenced to Prison
A Lancaster man was sentenced Wednesday to three years and four months in prison for setting fire to a Lancaster elementary school during an arson and vandalism rampage with a teen-age accomplice that caused $500,000 in damage.
Michael Ivan Smith, 21, pleaded no contest April 23 to one count of arson after prosecutors agreed to drop burglary and vandalism charges against him. At his sentencing Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court, Smith was given credit for 72 days already served in jail plus 36 days for good behavior.
Smith’s 16-year-old companion pleaded guilty March 13 to arson and burglary charges stemming from the rampage. He was scheduled to be sentenced last month in Sylmar Juvenile Court, but prosecutors said Wednesday that they were prevented by law from disclosing the sentence because the defendant is a juvenile. The boy faced up to eight years in the California Youth Authority.
Smith told a probation officer that he had drunk a case of beer and whiskey and “just went crazy” before he and the youth broke into Sierra Elementary School about 3:25 a.m. Feb. 28.
Both suspects confessed after they were arrested March 2 on an informant’s tip, authorities said.
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