East Side arsonists sentenced

Four men appeared before Genesee Circuit Judge Judith Fullerton in orange jail suits with hands and legs in chains and plead guilty Jan. 23 to setting four fires at vacant houses on the East Side.

Police arson investigators believe that they set more than 100 fires.

They received the county prosecutors recommended sentence of one year in jail with five years of probation. Fullerton reserved the ruling on restitution because none of the arson victims appeared in court.

The fifth arsonist, Mike Albro, 18, received the identical sentence two weeks before.

The defendants, Joshua Verkennes, 20, Brett Shapardon, 19, Aaron Potter, 17, and George Omara, 31, apologized to the judge for the arsons. All had previous criminal convictions expect Potter.

All were advised by Fullerton to get their high school diplomas while serving their jail time.

"Keep working on your education, keep your nose to the books," the judge said.

In an interview after the sentencing, David Caswell of the Citizens Nuisance Task Force said, "I am sure that these arrests did not solve the problem of arsons on the East Side. Arsons have continued even after these men were put in the county jail."

Dale Scanlon, an East Side resident and a member of the task force, was concerned about restitution.

"It's going to cost the city or the Genesee County Land Bank to clean up these properties," Scanlon said. "Why isn't money being set aside for cleanup?"

"All property has value," Caswell continued. "While the houses may not have been suitable for people to live in, they still had value. If the homes had passed to the land bank or to the county, this value belonged to the people. I think payment for the damage done in arsons should always be required."

While all of the fires occurred on vacant or in abandoned houses, Caswell was concerned about injuries to firefighters.

"The punishment for this crime should take into account the potential damage that the arsons could have done to innocent persons such as firefighters and also neighbors who live nearby. In these fires local firefighters were injured and that should also be taken into account," Caswell said.