Conway arsonist sentenced to 15 years.

Conway apartment building fire injured several people

A Conway man who burned down his apartment building in early 2017, injuring several people and causing the death of a mother dog and five newborn puppies, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison.

David Hartsell, 52, admitted March 7 that he was responsible for the fire that broke out in his unit at the Germantown Apartments, a 12-unit building, shortly after 4 a.m. Feb. 27, 2017, when most residents were asleep.

Authorities said the fire destroyed six apartments and left the remaining six homes heavily damaged, ultimately leaving the entire complex unlivable.

The cause of the fire, which displaced 17 residents, was traced to two containers of flammable liquid, with wicks attached, inside Hartsell’s apartment, where neighbors’ recollections and burn marks on the walls indicated he had started fires before. Hartsell also had been previously convicted of arson.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Special Agent Warren Newman of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who is also a trained medic, testified about the significant danger the fire posed to the Germantown occupants, as well as the serious injuries some suffered.

Newman said the fire spread rapidly, quickly engulfing one whole side of the two-story complex. He said residents on the top floor had only one means of getting down — a staircase that was engulfed in flames — which forced them to jump from the second floor.

Newman testified that one renter had to break out a window and tie bedsheets together to get down. That tenant’s adult dog and five newborn puppies died because there was no way to get them out, he said.

Newman said another family living on the second floor had to jump out a window, causing a woman to fracture five vertebrae in the fall. Her husband then had to drop their young children out the window to people waiting to catch them below.

The most serious injury, according to Newman and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens, who prosecuted the crime, occurred when an upstairs tenant who had no other means of escape from his apartment had to run through his front door and a wall of flame to jump from the balcony.

Newman said the man suffered significant burns over most of his body and that the impact of the fall ripped his aorta loose.

The man required hospitalization for more than a year and still suffers from his injuries, including painful breathing.

At his plea hearing, Hartsell said he didn’t intend to hurt anybody but acknowledged when questioned by U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. that he was high on methamphetamine at the time.

“This 15-year sentence demonstrates the seriousness of the defendant’s actions,” U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland said in a news release issued Friday with Stephen Bridgmon, acting resident in charge of the ATF’s Little Rock field office.

“Harstell’s reckless behavior placed innocent people, including several small children, in the path of a raging fire,” Hiland said. “He also permanently displaced numerous families from their homes. This senseless destruction will not be tolerated.”

An investigation was conducted by the Conway Police Department, the Conway Fire Department and the ATF, including the agency’s National Response Team. It led a federal grand jury to indict Hartsell on July 11, 2017, on two charges — malicious destruction of property by means of fire, with injury, and possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence. He pleaded guilty to the first count, the arson charge, in exchange for the other charge being dropped.

Marshall sentenced Harstell above the 84-month, or seven-year, recommendation of federal sentencing guidelines and imposed the 15-year sentence sought by Givens.

Marshall also ordered Hartsell to pay at least $378,541 in restitution to Traveler’s Insurance, which insured the building. A plea agreement indicates that the amount of restitution could increase to include costs of medical care for some of the tenants, though the judge didn’t impose a fine because Hartsell has no means of paying.