PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A volunteer firefighter accused of torching his firehouse to collect insurance money to build a new social hall pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court.
Jerry Booker II, 21, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and a federal arson charge in a pair of fires authorities said he set in June 2002. Authorities said he and three other members of the fire company hoped to collect $500,000 in insurance money to build a new social hall for the 15-man department in Isabella, about 35 miles south of Pittsburgh.
Booker faces from five to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced April 15.
Federal prosecutors said Booker set fire to the social hall June 26 and then again four days later after insurance investigators refused to declare the building a total loss.
Booker, Steven Dugan, William Robison, and Thomas Baker _ all officers with the fire department _ were indicted in March. Dugan, Robison and Baker have all pleaded innocent.
Paul Boas, Booker's lawyer, declined comment on the plea.
