BROOKLYN — A man charged with setting a fire in his girlfriend's apartment that almost killed two small children has been acquitted of arson and spared from life in prison, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.
Thaddeus Boone, 24, was found not guilty of starting a blaze in his girlfriend's fifth-floor apartment in Wyckoff Gardens on Third Avenue near Baltic Street in March 2014, court records show.
Boone was accused of breaking into the apartment March 15, 2014 around 2 a.m. and setting fire to the apartment where his girlfriend’s four siblings slept, court records show.
Boone had argued with his 18-year-old girlfriend the night before the fire and accused her of cheating on him, according to the criminal complaint.
Firefighters saved a 6-month-old boy and an 8-year-old girl from the burning apartment and the grandmother escaped with a 2-year-old toddler and 14-year-old child, according to court records.
The three youngest children were taken to an area hospital with serious injuries and the grandmother and teenager suffered minor injuries, according to the FDNY.
The jury found Boone not guilty despite surveillance video that showed him entering and leaving the apartment building around the time of the fire, prosecutors said.
Boone was convicted of criminal possession of stolen property and sentenced to a year in prison, according to court records. It was unclear what he had stolen.
Because he was remanded without bail, Boone was expected to be released from Rikers Island before the weekend, according to a Brooklyn DA’s office spokesman.
Boone’s attorney was not immediately available for comment.
