Nicholas Hannigan, 28, pleaded guilty last week in Baltimore County Circuit Court to one count of first-degree arson in connection with the fire at an unoccupied home in the 3900 block of Myrtle Ave. in Lansdowne.
For years, the cause of the fire was classified as undetermined. It was not until Hannigan applied for a job at the U.S. Secret Service that arson allegations came to light in 2011. As part of his Secret Service employment application, Hannigan underwent a polygraph test, according to Matt Darnbrough, a Baltimore County assistant state's attorney.
"He flunked the polygraph test and then he pretty fully confessed to this," Darnbrough said.
Judge Robert E. Cahill Jr. gave Hannigan a 10-year sentence — with all but nine months suspended — and five years of supervised probation, plus a $5,000 fine, according to court records.
As a member of the English Consul Volunteer Fire Company, Hannigan had fought the 2007 fire and was hospitalized afterward, said Darnbrough. The fire at the house, which was under renovation for rental, caused $130,000 in damage, according to a police report.
Defense attorney James Farmer said Hannigan was "very truthful, very straightforward" about the incident during the screening process for the Secret Service job.
"He was a young volunteer firefighter when this [2007 fire] happened," Farmer said.
Hannigan told authorities other volunteer firefighters were also involved, Farmer said. According to a police report, Hannigan said in a written statement to investigators that a fellow volunteer told him he "should have lit a fire by now like everyone else."
Darnbrough said the accusations against other firefighters could not be substantiated.
A representative of the English Consul company has previously told The Baltimore Sun that allegations other members purposely set fires were "ridiculous."
After the Secret Service polygraph test, federal prosecutors charged Hannigan with arson. But an attorney for Hannigan at the time successfully argued the federal court did not have jurisdiction in the matter, and a U.S. district judge dropped the charges last year.
After the federal case was dismissed, Hannigan was indicted in Baltimore County on the arson charge, Darnbrough said.
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