Green Mountain Falls Town Hall Arsonist Sentenced To 12 Years
GREEN MOUNTAIN FALLS, Colo. (AP) — A disgruntled driver who retaliated for a traffic ticket by setting fire to the town hall in Green Mountain Falls has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The Gazette reports that 22-year Zacharia Garrison Shaffer got the stiffest penalty possible for orchestrating the February. The century-old town hall was destroyed.
Shaffer pleaded guilty in September to first-degree arson. A co-defendant accused of helping set the fire awaits a January trial.
According to text messages sent from his phone, Shaffer was angered by a summons to appear in Green Mountain Falls on a traffic matter, where he expected to face fines. He wrote to a childhood friend, "That place is going down." Shaffer and his co-defendant both suffered burns in the arson.
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