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Leland man gets 3 years for setting own house on fire · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Leland Mann gets three years for setting own house on fire.
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  Speaker 1: Written by Tom Collins. This article is being read by
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  Speaker 1: an automated voice brought to you by everlett A. Leland
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  Speaker 1: Man is going to prison for setting fire to his
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  Speaker 1: own house. Gregory Wormley might not be in custody very long. However, Wormley,
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  Speaker 1: forty six, appeared Friday in LaSalle County Circuit Court for sentencing.
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  Speaker 1: He had entered a blind plead in April to arson
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  Speaker 1: a class too felony, carrying a possible prison sentence to
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  Speaker 1: three to seven years, but with the possibility of probation.
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  Speaker 1: Wormley declined an opportunity to address Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan, Jr.
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  Speaker 1: And left it to his lawyer to argue for probation.
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  Speaker 1: Ryan quickly ruled that out. The judge ruled there was
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  Speaker 1: risk of injury to first responders, if not the occupants,
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  Speaker 1: It's fortunate there was nobody there, and then sentenced Wormly
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  Speaker 1: to the minimum three year. However, Wormley has a year's
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  Speaker 1: credit for time served and the equivalent of another year
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  Speaker 1: for credits earned in programs offered at LaSalle County Jail,
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  Speaker 1: coupled with the possibility of day for day good time
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  Speaker 1: Wormley could be released well before the end of the year,
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  Speaker 1: if not sooner. Wormley was charged after an investigation into
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  Speaker 1: a suspicious fire July twenty fourth, twenty twenty five, in
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  Speaker 1: the two hundred block of South Main Street, Leland. Authorities
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  Speaker 1: quickly ascertained that the fire was intentionally set with an accelerant.
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  Speaker 1: Wormley was located later at a Mendota motel smelling of gasoline.
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  Speaker 1: A K nine officer alerted to accelerant on his belongings.
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  Speaker 1: At sentencing Friday, Assistant LaSalle County State's Attorney Kelly Porter
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  Speaker 1: asked for a five year sentence. While acknowledging Wormley's limited
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  Speaker 1: criminal history, Porter said the severity of the offense and
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  Speaker 1: complete devastation of the house demanded a deterrent sentence. Assistant
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  Speaker 1: public defender Heidi Nelson counter argued that Wormley accepted responsibility
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  Speaker 1: and entered a guilty plea. He had served with distinction
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  Speaker 1: in the military and had documented mental health and substance
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  Speaker 1: abuse issues, Nelson said, and was unlikely to reoffend. We
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  Speaker 1: do believe this is an isolated incident, Nelson said, asking
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  Speaker 1: for probation plus time served. The judge was unpersuaded. But
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  Speaker 1: nonetheless handed down prison time that, with all Wormley's pre
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  Speaker 1: trial credits, could become a time served disposition. Good luck
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  Speaker 1: to you, Sir Ryan told him, Thank you, Wormley replied,