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Although Prosecutor David Kolbe thought imprisoning a convicted arsonist would deter similar crimes in the future, a Milford woman was released after serving only six weeks of a two-year sentence.
Sheila Kay Grevenstuck, 34, and her husband, Michael Grevenstuck, 34, were sentenced Aug. 22 for a May 2, 1994, fire they admitted starting at their Beer Road residence.
Mr. Grevenstuck, who is reportedly in poor health, was given a four-year suspended prison term after pleading guilty to arson as a Class C felony.
Mrs. Grevenstuck was also sentenced to four years in prison on the same charge, but Kosciusko Superior Court Judge Robert Burner ordered two years of that sentence suspended. With good behavior, she would have been released in one year.
However, Burner approved a sentence modification for Mrs. Grevenstuck Oct. 11 and she was released after Kolbe recommended the time ordered served also be suspended for probation.
At the sentencing hearing Aug. 22, Kolbe pointed out that a lot of fires in Kosciusko County are fraud and should be deterred. Kolbe said that sentencing the defendants to prison would offer such a deterrent.
The Grevenstucks received an insurance settlement after the fire, which was determined to have been started by an accelerant poured throughout the home. The fire investigation team was suspicious immediately because the house was padlocked from the outside.
On Oct. 11, Kolbe informed the court that Mrs. Grevenstuck complied with a prior agreement of the prosecutor's office as to the payment of monies and partial restitution of damages caused by her actions. He then recommended that the remaining term of the sentence be suspended and that she serve four years of formal probation.
