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Williamsport Man Sentenced for Setting Parents' House Ablaze

WILLIAMSPORT, Md. (AP) — A county circuit court in Maryland sentenced a veteran who burned his parents' house down to 18 months in jail and recommended participation in an alternative program to incarceration.

The Herald Mail reports 58-year-old David Edward Carr pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree arson in Washington County Circuit Court. He was given a five-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended, and will be released from jail if he's accepted into the county's day-reporting program.

Carr's lawyer says he "snapped" and set fire to the Williamsport home on Oct. 18 from a combination of alcohol abuse and separating from his wife.

No one was hurt in the blaze.

The military retiree's family says it was out of character and the judge says that support factored into the decision.

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