Homeless and freezing on a cold winter night in Sault Ste. Marie, Scott Erdman decided to light a fire to keep warm.
Erdman lit the fire shortly before midnight on Feb. 12, and at 12:15 a.m. firefighters contacted city police about the active fire, Ontario Court Justice Romuald Kwolek heard Wednesday. The 50-year-old accused pleaded guilty to arson, as well as an unrelated charge of theft for stealing a $66 bottle of Finlandia vodka from a west-end liquor store on Jan. 29.
"He was reckless" but didn't want this to happen, McCooeye said. "That is the extent of his blameworthiness."McCooeye asked the judge to impose a 90-day conditional sentence, which would be served in the community, for the theft, and would allow Erdman to work."This is a case of needless destruction of property by fire," that caused more than "$14,000 damage to a local business in the middle of the night," the assistant Crown attorney said.