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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Former Wilkes-Barre Township volunteer firefighter Richard Thomas Hart was sentenced Wednesday to nine to 23 months in prison on charges he set fire a he later joined in battling.</p><p>Hart, 19, stood trial in October on charges he torched a vacant home at 115 Carey Ave. in the township in December 2015, but the jury deadlocked on a verdict after nearly five hours of deliberations. He pleaded no contest to a single felony count of arson in March.</p><p>The teen was cuffed and shackled in the courtroom before he was led out of the courthouse to the county prison. He declined to comment.</p><p>As part of the plea deal struck in the case, Hart is prohibited from working or volunteering for any fire department until the conclusion of the prison term and two years probation he received Wednesday. He must pay more than $12,200 in restitution.</p><p>His attorney, arguing for a probationary sentence, said Hart is already suffering from the loss of his passion. The son of township fire chief Richard Hart, the younger Hart grew up around firefighters, defense attorney John Pike said.</p><p>&#8220;This was everything in his life, and he lost that,&#8221; Pike said.</p><p>Pike pushed for leniency due to Hart&#8217;s age and lack of a criminal record, but prosecutor Thomas Hogans urged Judge David W. Lupas to consider the impact the blaze had on James Marcincavage, a neighbor whose house was caught in the blaze as it spread from next door.</p><p>Had it not been for a quick-acting police officer who woke Marcincavage, &#8220;this matter could have turned out a whole lot worse than it did,&#8221; Lupas said.</p><p>Hart was one of about 30 firefighters from four departments to respond to the early morning blaze. During trial, Hart said he confessed to setting the blaze because he folded under intense questioning from investigators.</p><p>He twice denied setting the fire, he said, but admitted in a third interview he started the blaze after he followed a lost family cat into the residence and dropped a cigar onto spilled gasoline. He made the story up because he was nervous and &#8220;never had to deal with anything like this before,&#8221; he said.</p><p>&#8220;I tell them a story, they leave me alone,&#8221; Hart said on the stand.</p><p>But in a fourth interview with police, Hart backed off his confession and claimed a man he saw standing in a seldom-traveled township roadway a few days before the fire was responsible. Hart claimed he saw the man at the scene the night of the fire and was threatened by him at gunpoint, according to testimony.</p><p>Hogans had argued it was Hart who sparked the blaze, not a mysterious stranger or someone recruited in a setup attempt by former township fire chief John Yuknavich &#8212; a rival of Hart&#8217;s father &#8212; as suggested during testimony at the time.</p><p>Yuknavich and the elder Hart have leveled harassment claims against one other over an alleged shouting match last summer. The former fire chief, who served six months in prison last year for stealing funds from the fire department, appeared outside the courtroom during the trial but did not take the stand.</p><p>Pressed at trial as to why he didn&#8217;t call police about the suspicious man in the neighborhood or mention him in interviews for nearly a month, Hart again cited fear. When Hart did bring up the stranger, investigators didn&#8217;t believe him, he said.</p><p>&#8220;They basically told me I was a piece of s&#8211;&#8211;&#8211;,&#8221; Hart said.</p><p>Hogans had countered by noting it wouldn&#8217;t be unreasonable for investigators to be hesitant to believe Hart because he had already admitted to setting the blaze.</p><p>Hart will be eligible for work release after 60 days, Pike said.</p><p><ins>For more local crime stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/crime" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Richard Thomas Hart, shown here at a hearing last year, was sentenced Wednesday on an arson charge. He pleaded no contest in March. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL021016Richard-Hart1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Richard Thomas Hart, shown here at a hearing last year, was sentenced Wednesday on an arson charge. He pleaded no contest in March. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader file </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre Township volunteer firefighter gets jailtime in arson case