GREENFIELD — A woman accused of setting a fire in her apartment last May has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in an agreement that includes no prison time.
Lisa Espino-Rangel, 38, Greenfield, faced a Level 4 felony count of arson after she was arrested a month later. Security camera footage captured her leaving her apartment in a building at 231 W. Main St. eight minutes before the first 911 call was made reporting the fire.
Investigators said an accelerant was used to start the fire, according to court documents. The woman’s landlord told police Espino-Rangel was behind on her rent and had received a notice the day before the fire that if the bill wasn’t paid she would be evicted.
Espino-Rangel said the a cord on a cellphone charger could have sparked the fire, according to her statement to police.
She and her attorney were in Hancock County Superior Court Wednesday, where the defendant agreed to plead guilty to a less serious charge of criminal mischief. The Level 6 count can carry a sentence of up to two years in jail. Deputy prosecutor Kevin Kelly said if the plea deal is approved by the court, Espino-Rangel will face no prison time.
A sentencing hearing was set for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 6 in Hancock County Superior Court, where the cost of restoring the damage will be revealed. Judge Terry Snow took the plea under advisement until then.
Espino-Rangel lived in one of five apartments above Ford’s Flooring and G/D Investment Properties. The flames were contained to Espino-Rangel’s apartment, but the smoke and water damage done to the adjacent businesses and apartments is estimated at more than $60,000, according to officials.
Espino-Rangel told investigators she had run home quickly between work and her son’s baseball game. She hadn’t noticed anything unusual, she said, according to court documents.
When investigators told her the fire appeared to have been set and was not an accident, she denied involvement, according to court documents.
Wires, pieces of wall trim and drywall and other debris was sent to a state lab to be tested for accelerants. The results of the tests came back negative, but a police K-9 trained to sniff for accelerants found evidence of them in the apartment near where the fire began, investigators said.
