QUEENSBURY, N.Y.-- Brian Hodges, the former Colonie firefighter who burned down the Brant Lake General Store in Warren County, was sentenced to 22 years in prison today.
Hodges, 27, is already serving 1 1/3 to four years in state prison for statutory rape. He will begin serving his time for the arson after that sentence is complete.
Hodges' defense lawyer argued at the trial that Hodges did not intend to burn the historic, 106-year-old building down or endanger the lives of the five people in apartment above the store Aug. 1 last year.
He was trying to show the owners, Valerie and Steven Steinman, the newspapers behind the store were a fire hazard.
Prosecutors said Hodges was obsessed with his cousin, who was staying with the Steinmans, and would do anything to try to force her to move back to the Capital Region. Hodges' rape conviction is related to his relationship with the girl.
Valerie Steinman said at the sentencing her family remains financially and emotionally devastated by the loss of the store, which was the center of life in the small town of Horicon.
Republished with permission of the Albany Times Union.
