AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - A Georgia man who set fire to an apartment building has been sentenced to 60 years in prison after being convicted of arson.
A judge sentenced 67-year-old William Gorham after a jury convicted him Wednesday of five counts of arson and a single count of trespassing.
The Augusta Chronicle reports Gorham started a fire outside his stepson’s apartment in 2017 the day after vandalizing the stepson’s vehicle.
“It’s just the beginning,” Gorham texted Howard Ray after he jumped from his second-story balcony to escape the fire. Ray shouldn’t have interfered in Gorham’s marriage, Gorham messaged his stepson.
After the firefighters extinguished the fire, Gorham texted his estranged wife, denying that he knew her son was home when he set the fire. But his message soon turned dark. “I ain’t threatening nobody. I just made a promise. Until death due us part. DEATH,” he texted his wife.
Assistant District Attorney Stetson Cromer said that when Gorham was arrested, police found a gas can and a spray bottle filled with gas in his car.
Gorham’s wife said she told him she was leaving him the day before the fire, spending the night with her son.
Because of Gorham’s extensive criminal history, he must serve his prison term without parole.
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