A St. Paul, Minnesota man was sentenced to 41 months in prison Tuesday for his role in the arson at the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct last May.
Branden Wolfe, 23, pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to commit arson. As part of his sentencing, he was ordered to serve two years of supervised release and pay $12 million in restitution, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. According to court documents, on May 28, 2020, Wolfe went to the Third Precinct, where hundreds of people had gathered to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. At one point, the crowd began shouting, "Burn it down, burn it down." A fence surrounding the building was torn down.
Wolfe pushed a barrel into a fire that had been set in the entrance of the Third Precinct, with the intent to accelerate it, the documents say.