JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A former Shaw firefighter has pleaded guilty to a charge of second degree arson for burning down Shaw's City Hall in 2003.
Calvin Simmons, 28, was sentenced to six years on Monday, but will only serve a year in jail with five years of post-release supervision.
Simmons, a former Bolivar County firefighter, confessed to starting a fire at city hall late one night in January of 2003. He responded to the fire early the following morning after being awoken by his fire pager. The Memorial Library across the street also caught on fire.
He told authorities during questioning he only wanted to start a small fire to see if he and the assistant chief could handle the fire.
There have been several suspicious fires in Shaw since 1998, including a previous city hall fire. However, he denied being involved in other fires.
After the second fire at city hall, Bolivar County Arson Investigator Dasel Moorhead, along with the State Fire Marshall's Office and members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms formed an arson task force.
The group went over evidence, made maps of the fires to look for patterns and sent off materials collected at the scenes.
According to records, Simmons responded to each fire in Shaw during the time the arson cases were being investigated.
Bolivar County Arson Investigator Dasel Moorhead said the fires and weird phone calls ceased while Simmons was in custody.
``I am glad this is over with and I'm especially glad for the people of Shaw,'' Moorhead said. ``It gives closure for them.''
