Thread: MD: IA burns house with 2 year old inside

Arsonist to be deported after 6 months in jail
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Illegal immigrant tried to burn down home with a toddler inside
By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer
Published February 20, 2008
An illegal immigrant was sentenced yesterday to about six months - time he already served - for trying to burn down an Annapolis home this summer while his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter was inside.
Prosecutors said yesterday they offered the plea agreement to Alex Edguardo Garcia, 22, formerly of 5 Park Lane, because they expect him to be deported in the coming weeks to El Salvador.

But Joseph Alton Jr., the former county executive and sheriff who owns the Park Lane home Garcia almost burned down Sept. 6, blasted the sentence.

"That's a disgrace to the American citizen," he said, arguing that if a legal resident of the United States set the fire he'd be looking at more jail time than Garcia. He said there is nothing keeping Garcia from returning to Maryland after he is deported.

"If they want to get into the country, they will find a way to do it," Mr. Alton said.

Prosecutors defended the sentence and said Mr. Alton was involved in the negotiations.

"He indicated to us that deportation was an important factor to him," said Kristin Riggin, a spokesman for the State's Attorney's Office. "But we certainly understand he wanted him to serve more time."

While the maximum sentence for arson is 30 years in prison, state sentencing guidelines called for Garcia to serve no more than two years behind bars, prosecutors said. State prison procedures usually require inmates to serve about half of a sentence.

"He has served time here and the defendant now must go," Ms. Riggin said.

Garcia entered an Alford plea yesterday to first-degree arson.

An Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain his innocence while admitting that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him. It carries all the consequences of a guilty plea.

As agreed to by prosecutors and defense attorneys, Circuit Court William C. Mulford II sentenced Garcia to two years in prison, but suspended all but the 166 days he had already served at the county jail. Attorneys said immigration officials were waiting to begin the deportation process.

Assistant State Attorney Warren Davis said Garcia and Maritza Vasquez were arguing at about 4:30 p.m. Sept. 6 inside the house they shared with several other people.

Mr. Davis said Ms. Vasquez attempted to end their relationship and Garcia got angry. He said Garcia, who had been drinking that day, started throwing Ms. Vasquez's things around the place.

Ms. Vasquez and a male friend left the house - leaving Ms. Vasquez's young daughter sleeping in the house - only to turn around and see smoke coming from the building. Mr. Davis said the two ran back inside and rescued the girl. He said the fire singed the friend's hair in the process.

Police on the scene spotted Garcia walking away from the house carrying a suitcase. He told officers he smoked cigarettes in the house and hypothesized that's what started the blaze. Garcia said the fire started in the living room and that he tried to put it out with a garden hose.

Mr. Davis said the fire started in Ms. Vasquez's closet and that there was no evidence anyone tried to use a garden hose in the house.

It is unclear if Garcia knew the girl was in the house at the time of the fire.

Twenty-six firefighters from Annapolis, Anne Arundel County and the Naval Academy battled the blaze. It took about 30 minutes to get the fire under control.

Fire investigators estimated the damage at $400,000. The Red Cross was called in to help five adults and three children displaced by the blaze, fire officials said.

The house, which Mr. Alton helped build in the late 1950s, remains damaged this morning. The windows are still boarded up and the eves and trim are still charred.

"I haven't decided what to do with it," he said.

That decision is being hampered by money and the real estate market, he said. He said the insurance company only gave him $160,000 to repair the damages.

now you tell me this was a just sentence....

This Judge needs to lock his own self up for "Deriliction of Duty"

I can not respond to this as I am Outraged ..

Ms. Vasquez and a male friend left the house - leaving Ms. Vasquez's young daughter sleeping in the house - only to turn around and see smoke coming from the building. Mr. Davis said the two ran back inside and rescued the girl. He said the fire singed the friend's hair in the process.




What kind of mother leaves their child in her home with a drunken ex boyfriend who has become violent while she goes out with her "friend"?



On the arson note, I have this to say.....it seems to be the favored means of illegal aliens. They will not hesitate to burn down a home when something doesn't go their way.

Having had several arson fires committed on this property by IAs, I know this to be fact and they have absolutely no regard for the fact that their neighbor's homes can easily go up, that there are active gas lines present.....nothing.

The depravity knows no limits. Imagine there are people that hire people like Ms. Vazquez to take care of THEIR children....