A Chandlersville man who set fire his ex-wife's home in December was sentenced to eight years in prison Monday. Stephen Niles Jr., 36, called his estranged wife repeatedly on the night of Dec. 8, demanding that she tell him where she was.
"This was an ongoing thing between (Niles) and his wife," Assistant Prosecutor John Litle said during sentencing Monday. "Fueled by your methamphetamine and alcohol use, when she wouldn't answer her phone you became even more angry."
After visiting several locations where he thought she might be, Niles went to her home on Candlestick Drive and made his last phone call to her from inside her residence. During a heated message he left on her voicemail, Niles threatened to burn her house down.
Minutes later, the house was ablaze.
"You burned her house down and left your wedding ring in the driveway," Litle said.
In an earlier statement to the Times Recorder, Don Alexander, Wayne Township Fire Chief, said the blaze was reported at 2:48 a.m., Dec. 9. The structure was fully involved and the roof gone by the time fire personnel arrived on scene.