Otsego County Man Sentenced To One Year In Jail For Fire

NEW YORK, NY (05/19/2011)(readMedia)-- An Otsego County man will serve one year in jail after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a 2009 fire that heavily damaged his family's home in Oneonta.

Judge John Lambert sentenced Donald R. Kropp, 35, on Monday in Otsego County Court. Kropp was also ordered to serve five years probation and pay $80,000 in restitution to New York Central Mutual for losses to the home covered by the insurer.

Kropp, who is currently being held in Otsego County Jail, was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of third degree attempted arson and third degree insurance fraud.

An investigation by the New York State Insurance Department's Frauds Bureau, the Oneonta Police Department and the Oneonta Fire Department led to Kropp's arrest in August 2009, several weeks after fire damaged the two-story frame structure where he lived with his wife and three children.

No one was inside the home at the time of the fire, but two of the approximately 75 firefighters called to the scene were hurt fighting the blaze.

Investigators later determined that the fire had been intentionally set.

The case was prosecuted by the office of District Attorney John Muehl.

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