By Kathleen Brady Shea
The Philadelphia Inquirer
CHESTER COUNTY, Pa. — A 21-year-old Chester County man permanently dashed his dream of becoming a firefighter by pleading guilty to arson Wednesday in Chester County Court.
Under an unusual plea agreement that covers two unrelated criminal cases, Mark Gilliam, of West Bradford, will spend 33 to 66 months in state prison for trying to ignite a ceiling tile in the men’s bathroom of the Happy Days diner in Thorndale on Jan. 25, 2009.
Gilliam was originally charged in federal court after a series of Coatesville-area arsons terrorized residents. In the federal system, he faced a mandatory sentence of at least five years. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Ost-Prisco said he and federal officials had worked with Gilliam’s attorneys, Richard E. Meanix and Thomas Bellwoar, to negotiate the agreement.
Gilliam, an 11th-grade dropout, who declined an opportunity to address the court, will receive credit for the prison time he has served since February 2009, making him eligible for parole in about 16 months.
Upon completion of that sentence, Gilliam will face five years of probation for leading police on a high-speed chase Feb. 8, 2009, after he was spotted driving recklessly with his pregnant girlfriend outside the United Sports Training Center in Downingtown. He told police that he had fled because he was on probation for a theft case, court records said.
The agreement, approved by Judge Ronald C. Nagle, bars Gilliam from ever serving as a firefighter.
Authorities said Gilliam had bought his own gear and equipped his 1995 Ford Thunderbird with strobe lights to make it appear that he was on official duty, even after he was denied membership in the West Bradford Fire Company in January 2009.
The sentencing guidelines for arson, Ost-Prisco said, do not take damage or injuries into account. In this case, the fire, which never produced flames, died out on its own. He said that although Gilliam could have “burned down the building” and endangered the dozen people inside and firefighters, that hadn’t happened.
“I think the disposition set forth here is the appropriate disposition,” the judge said, reminding Gilliam that he would face much more severe penalties if he committed any other crimes.
Nagle also sentenced Gilliam to three to 23 months for violating his probation with the charge of fleeing.
Gilliam was initially implicated in other fires by another arson defendant, Roger L. Barlow, who is awaiting trial in connection with nine Coatesville blazes, one of which destroyed most of a city block and left about 50 people homeless.
Gilliam’s attorneys said Barlow had agreed to wear a wire in a failed effort to convince authorities that Gilliam was a coconspirator.
“Barlow called Gilliam and asked him about the fires they supposedly set together, and Gilliam said, ‘What are you talking about?’ ” Meanix said.
The two were classmates in 2007 and 2008 at the Center for Arts and Technology Pickering Campus near Phoenixville, a technical-education center run by the Chester County Intermediate Unit.
“They did know each other,” said Meanix. “That was it.”
From February 2008 until March 2009, federal investigators recorded 70 arsons in the Coatesville area, many of which remain unsolved. Ost-Prisco said the investigation was continuing.
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