CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kentucky man who set fire to the Southridge Walmart in South Charleston earlier this year was sentenced Thursday to prison time.
Robert Rogers, 41, was ordered to spend three years and seven months in prison after September guilty pleas to third degree arson and grand larceny charges.
Rogers was arrested March 2 in Logan County hours after he set fire in the sporting goods section of the store to draw attention away from the jewelry counter where he was stealing items worth $2,600.
Surveillance video put Rogers in several parts of the store before the fire.
The fire closed a section of the store and impacted everyone who worked there, Southridge Walmart Manager George Skinner said.
“It negatively effected the “My Share Bonus” of the 450 associates financially, including myself, that we didn’t make up that money on. You know we’re never going to get that back. And, you know, given some of those associates, basically a week’s worth of pay they weren’t able to get,” Skinner said Thursday.
South Charleston Police Sgt. Pat Rader previously said the fire was significant.
“It was luck our fire department got there as quickly as they did and put it out as quickly as they did,” he said. “It could have been much, much worse.”
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman handed down Thursday’s sentence.