THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504010251
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW BERN LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
The owner of a truck that was set afire and sparked the 24,600-acre fire in the Croatan National Forest last spring has pleaded guilty in federal court to arson of a motor vehicle.
David Edward Hamann, 27, hoped to gain an insurance settlement when he asked fellow Marines at Camp Lejeune to ``get rid of the truck,'' according to court documents.
Hamann entered his plea this week as part of an arrangement in U.S. District Court in Elizabeth City, according to U.S. Attorney Peter Kellan. Hamann owned the pickup truck that was ignited in the forest that started the May fire.
Kellan said an out-of-state loan on the truck made it a federal charge to burn the vehicle. Hamann is being held responsible for the destruction of the truck because he asked others to destroy it for him.
Hamann will be sentenced within 90 days and is free on bond, Kellan said. He could receive up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Hamann is the fourth man from Camp Lejeune to be charged with involvement in the destructive fire that burned for months, caused $2.5 million in damage and cost $5 million to extinguish.
The other three are scheduled for trial in May. Samuel Edward Perry, Lance Cpl. Darrin York Hackett and Jack Melvin Knouse Jr. were indicted Jan. 2 by a federal grand jury on charges of arson, arson within a special maritime jurisdiction and timber set afire.
KEYWORDS: ARSON GUILTY PLEA by CNB