ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Rochester man who admitted to setting two fires, including one at a local grocery store and another at the city’s Hall of Justice, has been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison.
Jermaine Fields, 38, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa after pleading guilty to arson, U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles E. Moynihan, Fields was identified through security footage after a fire broke out in the men’s bathroom of the Abundance Co-Op Market on South Avenue on April 17. Responding firefighters detected the smell of burning rubber and found charred debris and burn marks on the bathroom floor and wall, though no active flames were present.
Security video from inside the store showed Fields walking through the premises, entering the bathroom, and exiting just before the fire alarm was triggered. He was arrested several days later.
Fields also admitted to a separate incident on April 5, in which he ignited papers in a stairwell at the Hall of Justice on Exchange Boulevard. No injuries were reported in either fire.
Fields pleaded guilty to one count of arson and was sentenced to the statutory minimum for the offense.
