BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE— A Jacksonville Beach man was sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting to starting a fire at Lawtey’s Economy Inn in 2021, making a bomb threat that prevented firefighters from extinguishing the blaze and attacking law enforcement officers that were trying to interview him.
In April, Christian Singleton signed a plea agreement with the State Attorney’s Office agreeing to a prison term of 10 to 20 years.
During a May 3 hearing, Circuit Judge James M. Colaw sentenced Singleton at the high end of the plea agreement.
Before Colaw announced the sentence, Assistant State Attorney Mark Dobo told the judge that Singleton’s actions were the result of a breakup with his companion of 13 years, with whom he shared a child.
“There was violence in that relationship that escalated,” Dobo said. “That’s when the relationship ended, and then behavior on behalf of Mr. Singleton escalated into other attention seeking behavior, trying to get (his companion’s) attention as well as accusing her of things that ultimately led to his homelessness and hotel hopping.”
The prosecutor added that the now-44-year-old man went from hotel to hotel and found himself in Lawtey the night of May 19, 2021.
The following morning, Singleton told one of the establishment’s owners that there was a fire in his room. The woman’s husband found Room 120 fully engulfed in flames.
Firefighters forced to stand by and watch
Bradford Deputy Michael Garmon wrote in an arrest report that when he arrived at the Economy Inn, the structure was fully engulfed in flames and that deputies and Lawtey police officers were trying to get control of the defendant while Singleton was in the back of a patrol vehicle.
The lawman added that he believed Singleton to be under the influence of a narcotic and appeared unphased when Garmon touch-tased him.
Garmon wrote that during the struggle, Singleton kicked him in the face. He added that the defendant also bit another lawman and kicked a third in the testicles. A fourth officer suffered a back injury during the fight.
A store clerk at Lawtey’s Community Store told officers that Singleton purchased a pack of cigarettes from her, and asked where he could buy gasoline. He then returned to the store, across County Road 125 from the motel, and obtained a second pack of Newports but refused to pay for the merchandise. He then told the clerk to call the police because he claimed he had just blown up the building next door. Singleton also claimed to have bombs in a backpack lying in the store’s parking lot, and in his truck parked at the motel.
Bradford Fire Rescue Director Allen Parrish said firefighters had the blaze under control within 12 minutes of arriving on scene.
“Initially our crews were able to knock down the fire,” he said shortly after the event, “where most of the heavy flame and extension is controlled. They were in the process of mopping that up when it was reported by law enforcement that there was a device of some type in the vehicle that was parked immediately in front of one of the rooms. So, we had to pull everybody back.”
Parrish provided a timeline that showed crews paged to the fire at 7:40, firefighters on scene at 7:44, water on the fire at 7:49 and the fire under control or “knocked down” at 7:56.
At 8:11, fire rescue was advised to cease operations due to an unknown explosive device, and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad deemed the area safe at 9:16. That allowed the fire to rekindle and spread for over an hour while firefighters were forced to stand by and watch.
Paranoia and schizophrenia
One month after Singleton’s arrest, Colaw ruled the defendant incompetent to proceed, based on a report by a forensic and clinical psychologist who determined Singleton suffered from an unspecified disorder on the schizophrenic spectrum and another psychotic disorder.
A year later, the judge ruled the defendant competent to proceed with his defense.
During the May 3 hearing, Dobo said that while the defendant’s mental state has been in question during the adjudication of his case, Singleton’s actions on the day of the fire indicate that he planned the fire and the bomb threat.
Dobo recalled that Singleton walked with a gas can to the Lawtey Community Store, bought a pack of cigarettes, and asked the clerk where he could purchase gas. He then walked an additional mile to another convenience store to obtain the accelerant for his crime before starting the blaze at the motel.
“We believe that that sequence of events shows very much that he had a plan from the beginning,” the prosecutor said, “carrying a gas can to the store where he actually paid for the cigarettes, knowing the difference between right and wrong.”
Dobo said the defendant further revealed his awareness of his culpability when he raised his hands in the air upon the arrival of Lawtey police officer Michael Gillick.
The defendant remained in the back of Gillick’s patrol vehicle for 30 to 45 minutes.
When officers opened the car door to ask Singleton questions about alleged bombs in his backpack and truck, Singleton lunged at the men, with the ensuing fight injuring the four officers.
Insurance not enough
Dobo, when describing the impact of Singleton’s actions, told Colaw that Lawtey Police, the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office, Starke police, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad, Clay County Fire Rescue, fire rescue units in Bradford County, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Lab and the State Fire Marshal’s Office were all involved in the incident.
He added that the motel’s owners, Indian immigrants who had resided in the U.S. for 14 years, lived in a two-bedroom apartment behind the motel office. They were rendered homeless after the inn’s total loss. The facility’s approximately 35 other occupants were displaced.
“The hotel was completely destroyed,” Dobo said. “The (victims) represented to us they did receive an insurance reimbursement on this for whatever they were insured for. They, however, did state that it was not enough to get another business off the ground and really make themselves whole. They, in the immediate aftermath of this, got by on the kindness of their friends who also owned the Best Western in (Starke). They stayed in a room in the Best Western with their two kids for a couple of months before another friend of theirs offered them an opportunity to manage a hotel that they owned.”
Dobo said the couple now manages a motel in Biloxi, Mississippi.
“They no longer own a hotel,” he added. “They no longer own any significant property real or otherwise.”
The prosecutor added that Singleton’s actions in Lawtey were part of an escalating pattern of violence.
He said that the defendant broke up with his companion two to three months before the fire, and two days prior to the blaze, Singleton rammed his pickup into his former companion’s residence, colliding with her front porch before driving off.
Believed phone company was spying on him
Assistant Public Defender Susan Ward argued that her client did not have any significant contact with law enforcement prior to the fire.
She blamed Singleton’s actions on his paranoia and schizophrenia as diagnosed by court-appointed mental health professionals.
“This is a situation that didn’t happen a couple of weeks ahead of time,” she told Colaw. “This is a situation that suddenly began to build and escalate for Mr. Singleton over the course of several months before this event.”
Ward also pointed to a letter from Singleton’s former companion, in which the woman described her efforts in trying to get Singleton treatment for his deteriorating mental health while the couple resided together in Duval County.
Ward also disagreed with Dobo’s characterization that the romantic breakup triggered Singleton’s behavior.
“This had very little to do with his relationship with (his companion) and everything to do with the fact that he believed the telephone company was spying on him at all times,” Ward said.
“Everything was driven by this schizophrenia,” she added, “which gradually escalated over the course of several months until (the companion) said this is not a safe situation for our child.”
The lawyer added that Singleton claimed he had a bomb in his backpack to keep police away from the knapsack because in it was evidence he thought proved the telephone company was spying on him. However, his plan backfired when the Alachua County bomb squad blew up the backpack to neutralize any explosives that might have been in it.
Ward said that after spending 18 months in a state mental hospital, receiving treatment and medications for his mental illness, her client is now making sensible, responsible and well-considered decisions.
In arguing for a 10-year sentence, she said her client remembers nothing of the events of May 20, 2021, but nonetheless accepts responsibility for his actions.
Serious choices, serious consequences
When announcing the sentence, Colaw noted that Singleton pleaded to five felonies.
“Here’s the real problem for the court,” Colaw told the defendant. “Having considered everything that’s been presented on your behalf here, at the end of the day, you’re before me, not really on a single choice or a single act or a single decision, but instead it’s… a series or a number of different acts or decisions that spanned at least some period of time that included decisions that ended up destroying other people’s property and people’s homes.”
Colaw told Singleton that in addition to destroying the motel, he committed acts of violence against law enforcement officers and threatened additional violence with his false bomb threats.
“They were very serious choices,” the judge said. “They ended up with very serious consequences.”
Colaw sentenced Singleton to 20 years for arson, 15 years for the bomb threat, and five years each for resisting an officer with violence and two charges of battery on a law enforcement officer. As part of the plea agreement, the state dropped an additional bomb threat charge, two battery charges, one resisting charge and the offense of obstructing fire extinguishing equipment.
All sentences will run concurrently, and the defendant was given two years credit for time already served.
