Man pleads guilty to setting fire at lawyer's home
A man in Idaho Falls, Idaho, has pleaded guilty to first-degree arson for setting a fire at the home of a lawyer who represented his ex-wife in the couple’s divorce.
Melvin Savage pleaded guilty on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports, citing information from the Post Register (sub. req.).
Police say Savage set a fire on Dec. 15 under a window of the home of the lawyer, identified in a prior Post Register story as Laurie Gaffney. The story was reprinted in the Idaho Statesman.
Gaffney had noticed the flickering light from the fire at about 1 a.m. on Dec. 15. The fire was put out with the help of a police officer and Gaffney’s husband, who is also a police officer.
Before the fire, Savage had harassed Gaffney for months, Gaffney told the Post Register. He had sent a series of threatening emails, making it difficult for Gaffney to sleep, which was the reason she was awake in the early morning hours.
