Accused arsonist enters guilty plea

A man accused of setting fire to a Juneau storage facility in June, causing more than $1 million in damage and destroying the property of nearly 200 people, pleaded guilty to lesser charges today in Juneau Superior Court. Although the culprit will pay for his crimes with jail time, the victims of the fire may never see a penny in restitution.

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Cricensio Bagoyo, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree arson and second-degree theft charges, both felonies, stemming from the fire and a separate burglary at Gastineau Human Services, both on June 2.

The fire leveled a building containing 280 storage units, some of them empty, at the Juneau Self-Storage complex in Lemon Creek. Officials said the blaze caused more than $1 million in damage. They said the lives of several firefighters were endangered when the building's roof collapsed.

The same day, an office at Gastineau Human Services, a nonprofit agency that runs a half-way house program, was burgled and cash and checks valued at nearly $40,000 were stolen.

The original indictment included second-degree burglary and first-degree arson charges.

Michael Blevins, 22, Bagoyo's accomplice, pleaded guilty last week to lesser charges of felony second-degree theft and misdemeanor probation violations. Blevins originally faced the same charges as Bagoyo.

According to a plea agreement between Assistant Public Defender Rob Meachum and District Attorney Rick Svobodny, the burglary charge against Bagoyo was dismissed and the arson charge was reduced to a lesser felony in exchange for a guilty plea. The agreement, submitted to Superior Court Judge Larry Weeks, recommended a sentence of 12 years in prison with four years suspended.

Restitution in the case is expected to be determined at Bagoyo's sentencing hearing Jan. 22. Meachum said restitution in the case likely will be "hundreds of thousands of dollars" and his client probably won't be able to pay.

"It's what we'll be talking about at sentencing," said Meachum after the hearing. "There's going to be a lot of restitution (owed) in this case. It's problematical. It'll be up to Judge Weeks. There are already various people and insurance companies making claims."

Svobodny said the defendants will have some options when it comes to restitution. He said if they show a good-faith effort to pay and honestly can't pay, nothing happens to them and the victims don't get their money. However, if they refuse to pay, the court can put them in jail for up to one year until restitution is paid, Svobodny said.

"Anything over $5,000, the court has to take into consideration the defendants' ability to pay," said Svobodny after the hearing. "Who gets that? The first one in line or a penny on the dollar, we don't know yet. ... It could end up that the victims don't get their money."

Probation officers in the Bagoyo and Blevins cases likely will determine restitution, Svobodny said.

"We will probably send out letters to everybody who had property in the storage unit to help determine the amount," he said.

Melanie Plenda can be reached at mplenda@juneauempire.com.