July 30--A Hanover County teenager pleaded guilty Monday to setting three fires in April and June 2012 in a Hanover County subdivision.
The pleas from Jacob G. Spiro could net a 40-year prison term for the 19-year-old former resident of Kings Charter, where the fires occurred, when he is sentenced in December.
For the mother of eight children who was inside an office building that was the site of the second fire, seeing Spiro in court Monday sparked emotions ranging from sympathy to thanks for what she described as divine intervention by her second-oldest son.
Then 18, Joseph Hunsaker, a volunteer firefighter in Henrico County bound for the Marine Corps, arrived outside the burning office June 7 just in time to prevent disaster.
"I didn't know it was on fire," Katharine Hunsaker said of the building. "Joseph just wanted to check on me because it was late at night and he knew I was alone with two of my younger kids. He said he just felt like he needed to do that."
Hunsaker, who has lived in Henrico the past 11 years, was working late doing accounting work at the office because she was scheduled to travel cross-country early the next morning. Her 9- and 11-year-old sons were with her.
"They said they smelled smoke, but I didn't notice anything," Hunsaker recalled.
Joseph showed up close to 11 p.m., just in time to see fire starting to run up the side of the small office building in the 9400 block of Kings Charter Crossing Drive. The flames threatened the building's only exit.
Joseph looked frantically for a fire extinguisher before settling on using drinking water from a refrigerator to douse the flames.
"The investigators told me the siding would have burned up in just minutes if he hadn't showed up," Hunsaker said after court.
Spiro, who admitted to setting the fires that did nearly $900,000 in damage and destroyed the community's clubhouse, had been spotted by residents who took down a license plate. When confronted by investigators, Spiro gave a full confession, Hanover fire Lt. Lee Mooney testified Monday.
An Atlee High School graduate who was days away from leaving for college, Spiro was arrested in August, long after the final fire June 8. That fire destroyed the community's clubhouse, a treasure of artifacts and mementoes of swim club teams and celebrations.
After court, Hunsaker expressed sympathy for Spiro.
"When he walked into the courtroom I felt so sorry for him," she said. "He's so young and obviously troubled. I hope he gets a light sentence and gets some help."
Hanover Circuit Judge J. Overton Harris set sentencing for Dec. 2. Two of the pleas carry up to 10 years in prison; a third, involving arson of the office occupied by Hunsaker and her two children, carries up to 20 years.
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Copyright 2013 - Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
