John Henry Conner Jr., who set fire to two Roanoke houses and then tried to silence the witnesses against him, was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison.
Conner, 26, had nothing to say before receiving the term from U.S. District Court Judge James Turk.
In May 2011, Conner pleaded guilty to setting or conspiring to set two fires in which three Roanoke firefighters suffered minor injuries.
The first fire was motivated by revenge, prosecutors said, with Conner torching the Eastern Avenue home of a former girlfriend who kicked him out for cheating on her.
The second arson, of a house on Greenbrier Avenue, was set in an attempt to collect insurance money.
Conner also pleaded guilty to seven charges of trying to influence or harass witnesses through telephone calls from jail, text messages sent by another girlfriend, and posts on a Facebook page she maintained.
In the Eastern Avenue fire, one firefighter twisted his ankle and another suffered heat exhaustion in responding to the blaze.
A third firefighter was burned on his face and ears after he became trapped in the Greenbrier Avenue fire and was forced to jump from an upper-level window.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Waering cited Conner's extensive criminal background, which includes at least one other arson conviction, in asking for the 15-year term -- the most he could receive under a plea agreement.
However, Waering held out the possibility that Conner could get his sentence reduced if he continues to cooperate with authorities in their investigation of the Greenbrier Avenue fire.
Prosecutors said they believe a second man was involved in the fire but have yet to file charges.
Defense attorney Jack Gregory said in court that while Conner "has had some low spots" in the long-running investigation, he expects him to follow through with his cooperation.
As part of Conner's sentence, he was ordered to pay about $281,000 in restitution for the damage caused by the fires.
A subtheme to Conner's legal travails has been the romantic relationships he carried on, at times simultaneously, with at least six women.
In November 2008, his then-girlfriend Michelle Westmoreland spat in Conner's face and threw him out of their house when she discovered he was spending nights with other women, according to earlier testimony.
That led Conner to pour gasoline in a window of Westmoreland's home and set it afire, prosecutors say.
Later, Conner relied on another girlfriend in his efforts to intimidate witnesses. Whitney Lynn Roberts, 24, has admitted that she helped Conner set up a Facebook account that portrayed some of the witnesses as snitches in hopes they would back down.
Roberts also admitted that she facilitated three-way phone calls that allowed Conner to threaten witnesses while he was in jail awaiting trial.
Earlier this week, Roberts was sentenced to two years of probation for her role in the case.
"He manipulated me and brainwashed me into thinking that he was innocent," Roberts told Turk during her sentencing Tuesday. "I wish I had never met John Conner."
Copyright 2012 - The Roanoke Times, Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
