Man gets prison in arson spree, intimidation

12/29/2006

TIFFIN - A Fostoria man convicted of witness intimidation and arson for setting fires to six vehicles and two buildings this spring was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison.

Daniel J. Shatzer, 20, pleaded guilty in October in Seneca County Common Pleas Court in exchange for a five-year sentence. Shatzer admitted entering Fostoria Iron & Metal property on Spruce Street on May 22 and setting fire to five vehicles, then torching a car on Maple Street.

County Prosecutor Ken Egbert, Jr., said Shatzer set fire to a garage in the 500 block of North Poplar Street on May 23 and set fire to a vacant house in the 600 block of Poplar on May 26.

Judge Michael Kelbley convicted Shatzer on four arson counts, three breaking-and-entering counts, and the intimidation charge. The intimidation charge stemmed from a threat Shatzer made to a 17-year-old Fostoria youth who reported the arson spree to police a month after the fires took place.

Two others have been charged in the same arson case.