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An Alabama man was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for setting a Connersville home on fire, killing two pets in the process, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana.
Tommy Lee Harrison, 34, of Birmingham, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison followed by two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to crossing state lines to commit arson.
On October 28, 2021, Harrison left Birmingham to travel to Connersville to set his father’s house on fire, according to the attorney’s office. At the time, his father was living there with his wife, children and the family’s pets.
During his drive, Harrison stopped at a store in Kentucky and bought a can of black spray paint.
Video surveillance captured Harrison at his father’s home in the early morning hours of October 29. Over the course of an hour, he used gasoline to light the inside and outside of the home on fire. He used the spray paint to deface the property with a racial slur.
Once finished, he drove back to Alabama, where he was arrested.
“This defendant’s actions had a devastating impact not only on the immediate victims, but on the community of Connersville as well. His actions uprooted a family, destroyed their peace of mind, and shook the small town in which his father was a prominent community leader,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
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