Man gets 40 months for starting fire during Kenosha protest

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a Racine man to 40 months in prison for starting a fire that destroyed a furniture store during protests over a police shooting in Kenosha in 2020.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller sentenced 23-year-old Devon Vaughn on Thursday. Vaughn pleaded guilty in March to conspiring to commit arson. His attorney, Joshua Uller, said Vaughn acted “entirely out of his character.”

The judge noted the Aug. 24 fire at B&L Office Furniture caused nearly $2 million in damage and deeply frightened the family of Linda Carpenter, who started the business with her husband more than 40 years ago.

The protests began on Aug. 23 after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, during a domestic disturbance. Blake survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down.

On the third night of the protests, Aug. 25, Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men on the streets, killing two of them. A jury acquitted him of multiple charges in November after he argued he fired in self-defense.