ADRIAN — The last of four men convicted of burning a vacant house in Clayton on a dare was sentenced to probation and a treatment program Friday in Lenawee County Circuit Court.
“I plan on being a whole lot wiser in the decisions I make,” Christopher James Beaubien, 30, told the court when he appeared for sentencing on a reduced charge of aiding and abetting arson. “Whatever you give me I will use it as a tool to better myself.”
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Beaubien pleaded guilty in the arson case on Oct. 31. His explanation for burning the house was: “I guess, being stupid.”
The night of July 10, he and the three others began daring and encouraging each other to set fire to the house on West Street. Beaubien said he knew the owner but had no hard feelings toward him.
Judge Margaret M.S. Noe said she hoped Beaubien is sincere about bettering himself. But his record is not encouraging, she said.
“I find you have a tendency to be most untruthful. You lie,” Noe told him.
“I want to believe I will never see you again,” she said. “My hope is that you mean it.”
Beaubien is already serving a one-year jail term he received Aug. 27 in district court for a reduced marijuana possession conviction. He is to be released after six months if his fine and costs are paid.
Noe ordered Beaubien to enter a residential treatment program when he is released from jail. He was also placed on five years’ probation and ordered to pay $1,250 court costs. He was also ordered to participate with the three others in paying $54,800 restitution for the fire damage.
One of the three other Clayton men, Shequille Albert Sheffield, 19, was given a 32-month to 10-year prison term for an arson charge he pleaded guilty to on Sept. 19. He admitted actually setting the fire.
Dylan Matthew Scott, 20, was sentenced to a year in jail and five years’ probation for aiding and abetting arson. And Michael Andrew Luft, 23, was given a nine-month jail term and five years’ probation for attempted aiding and abetting arson. He was also ordered released to a residential treatment program after serving six months.
