Wildfire evacuee gets two years in prison for lighting fire in Kamloops hotel room

He started throwing things in the hotel room and trashing it, Armstrong said, and got on his knees before yelling “Arrest me!”

A family member called 911, but before emergency crews arrived Dennis set fire to his grandmother’s suitcase, sending smoke through the hotel room before the sprinklers were able to extinguish it — leaving behind three inches of water in the hotel hallway.

Once officers arrived Dennis was arrested and he’s been in custody ever since, giving him credit for just shy of two years in custody. He’ll spend 49 more days in jail before his release, but Armstrong also placed him on a three-year probationary period.

In her decision, Armstrong detailed the brutal circumstances of Dennis’s childhood in Williams Lake, which included his mother abandoning him, physical abuse at the hands of several different people, racism at school, among other tribulations.

Dennis has also struggled with alcoholism and addiction, primarily with meth and crack cocaine, despite being clean for a few years. Armstrong says all of these contribute to the lifestyle Dennis has lived, and emphasized that lengthy probation would be more beneficial to Dennis and the public than a lengthy prison sentence.

“Mr. Dennis is a relatively young man. His responses to previous interventions have varied,” Armstrong noted, explaining that Dennis has appeared “less than enthusiastic” about certain treatment options.

But she pointed out the successes Dennis has had when structure and stability is brought to his life, adding that the ripping away of this during the wildfire evacuation led him to be agitated, angry and confused.

Dennis pleaded guilty to arson in relation to inhabited property, and his probationary period will include a curfew, a firearms and weapons ban, abstaining from alcohol and drugs, and not going to the Sandman Inn and Suites. He must also formally apologize to the hotel and his grandmother.

“I want you to think carefully about what you want to say,” Armstrong said.

by Ashley Legassic

Wildfire evacuee gets two years in prison for lighting fire in Kamloops hotel room

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