My former next door neighbors!

I wonder if living in close proximity to me makes people turn into criminals?

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From the Journal Gazette
Posted on Tue November 4, 2008

Foreclosure prompts arson, divorce, sentence By Rebecca S. Green The Journal Gazette

Setting his house on fire in an attempt to prevent foreclosure led Tuesday to an eight-year prison sentence for a 36-year-old Fort Wayne man.

Kevin J. Griffin, of the 500 block of Dayton Avenue, pleaded guilty to arson in October, admitting setting fire to his home in April.

On Tuesday, Allen Superior Judge Fran Gull sentenced Griffin to eight years in prison and two years on probation. She also ordered him to pay $20,477 in restitution, according to court documents.

On April 15, fire crews responded to the one-story house in which Griffin lived with his wife. The fire was centered in an area near the living room fireplace.

The couple was inside the home at the time, and Griffin’s wife told investigators she awoke to the smell of smoke at about 1 a.m. She woke up her husband, who got out of bed and told her the living room was on fire. They got out of the house, but Griffin went back in to rescue their pets, according to court documents.

Days later, Griffin’s wife said that when she called their mortgage company after the fire to check on the insurance, she found out the house was in foreclosure because no mortgage payments had been made for 20 months. Griffin was in charge of paying the bills and never told her about being behind on the payments, according to court documents.

The house was to have been sold April 17 because of the foreclosure, according to court documents.

Griffin’s wife filed for divorce in June.