Downtown Arsonist Pleads Guilty, Sentenced To 10 Years

SNOW HILL — An Ocean City man indicted in May on first-degree arson and other charges for setting fire to a downtown cottage in early March pleaded guilty on Wednesday to second-degree arson and was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Around 12:35 a.m. on March 10, the Ocean City Fire Department was dispatched to a residence at 19 St. Louis Ave. for a reported house fire. First-arriving crews observed a two-story, wood-frame single-family dwelling with fire burning throughout the first floor and portions of the second floor. The building was unoccupied at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported for firefighters or civilians.

Fire crews remained on scene for several hours extinguishing hot spots within the structure’s floors and walls. The cottage, one of many similar along the same stretch of St. Louis Avenue south of First Street, was deemed a total loss and ultimately torn down. The property owner later demolished the structure with an adjacent cottage that suffered extensive damage including heat damage and melted siding.

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