Man pleads guilty to setting fire to Franklin home

FRANKLIN — A one-time Salisbury man has been sentenced to at least five years in prison after pleading guilty to setting fire to a local residence last December.

Guy Wheeler, 57, pleaded guilty in Merrimack Superior Court on Thursday to four felony charges of arson, burglary, criminal mischief and reckless conduct.

On the arson charge, he was sentenced to five to 10 years in State Prison and ordered to pay restitution for the arson.

Wheeler was sentenced to five to 10 years on the burglary charge, with time suspended for 10 years upon his release. On the criminal mischief charge the judge imposed a 3½- to seven-year sentence, suspended for 10 years upon Wheeler's release. The reckless conduct sentence called for 3½ to seven years, also suspended, The sentences will be served consecutively, according to a media statement released Friday by the state Fire Marshal Paul J. Parisi, Franklin Police Chief David Goldstein, and Franklin Fire Chief Michael Foss.

The fire occurred last Dec. 3, at 11 Rose Lane in Franklin.

Home surveillance recordings captured the incident and showed that a man broke into the home and set combustible items on the kitchen stove to start a fire. The fire destroyed the home, damaged a car in the driveway and melted the siding of neighboring homes.

Tips from the community led investigators to identify Wheeler as the suspect. He was arrested on Dec. 20, by the Franklin Police Department and has been held in the Merrimack County Jail since his arrest.