Arsonist sentenced to 10 years

July 03, 2008 03:56 pm

— Submitted photo
This is a photo of a home at 521 North State Road 267 in Avon which the home’s former owner, Robert Chance, pleaded guilty to setting on fire on Jan. 28, 2007.

by Brian Kern

AVON — An Avon man who set his own house ablaze has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of arson.
Robert Chance, 44, pleaded guilty to the class ‘B’ felony charge and was ordered to pay $101,586.60 in restitution, in addition to the prison term. Investigators believe he burned down his home which had been approaching foreclosure according to investigation reports from the Avon-Washington Township Fire Marshall’s office.
Firefighters were called to Chance’s home at about 10:35 p.m. Jan. 28, 2007, after witnesses saw the blaze and called 911.
Chance was not home at the time of the fire and investigators were unsuccessful in their efforts to reach him until neighbors spotted Chance outside of the home three days later. They called the Fire Marshall’s office who observed that Chance had parked his truck across the street from his home in the Avon-Washington Township Library parking lot.
Chance told investigators that he had been living in the house at the time of the fire and that he had owned the residence since 2004. He also stated that he had recently been laid-off as an aircraft mechanic with ATA. Investigation reports claim that Chance had not made a mortgage payment in over a year and had been going through the foreclosure process.
Upon questioning, Chance told investigators that he had left his house bound for Connersville sometime between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on the day of the fire. He said that he had intended to visit his father. Chance claimed that he parked his truck outside of his father’s home where he waited all night in anticipation of his father getting up for work at 4:30 a.m. He said that when his father’s bedroom light did not come on, he opted to drive back to Avon.
Chance said that he approached the scene at around 6 a.m. the following day and did see fire equipment in his driveway. However, he drove by the scene without stopping.
Fire investigators also admit that their suspicions were aroused when it was learned that Chance took his pet ferret with him to Connersville, when he had rarely done so in the past.
Investigators were able to determine that the fire had started in the home’s basement and when asked the easiest way to ignite a basement fire, Chance told investigators that there was a box of matches down there and that someone could have used them to light cardboard, magazines, and aerosol cans on fire. He then denied setting the fire himself.
One firefighter suffered a minor knee injury while battling the blaze. He was transported to Hendricks Regional Health in Danville, where he was treated and released.
Hendricks County Prosecutor Patricia Baldwin said that Chance backed off his denial of setting the fire after failing a lie detector test.
“He confessed and apologized to the firefighter he injured after failing the polygraph,” Baldwin said.
She added that the sentence was within the median average for such crimes and that Chance was fortunate that the firefighter’s injuries were not more severe.
brian.kern@flyergroup.com

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