LAKE COUNTY — Clearlake resident Norman Ralph Henderson, 61, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of arson for fires he allegedly set along Bartlett Springs Road between Lucerne and the Walker Ridge area, and one in Clearlake. Lake County Superior Court Judge Richard Martin received the plea Friday morning.
Henderson faces a maximum sentence of 24 years in state prison, with a requirement that he serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. The plea includes a provision that five years will be included in the sentencing for two prior arson convictions, and in exchange, the Lake County District Attorney”s Office will not count them as strikes under the three-strikes law.
“If he is sentenced to the maximum in this case, he will not be eligible for parole until he is at least 81 years old,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said.
Henderson admitted that he set 10 fires between April 2007 and April 2008. He set fire to a Ford F-350 recreational vehicle and a 1971 Cabana mobile home in separate incidents. Also during the one-year period, Henderson set fire to two water bottling plant structures that belonged to Nestl? Water and Bartlett Mineral Springs Company, a Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District building, less than an acre of forest land near Pinnacle Rock, approximately 32 acres of forest land covered with brush near Walker Ridge, and two inhabited structures.
Hinchcliff said the inhabited structures were vacation cabins and were not occupied when the fires were set. Hinchcliff is a member of the approximately 20-person arson task force, which includes fire, land management and law enforcement agencies in Lake County. He prosecuted the case, and said Lake County Sheriff”s Office Detective Corey Paulich and task force members Chris Vallerga and Brice Trask led the investigation.
Martin will sentence Henderson in a Jan. 9, 2009 hearing. Henderson may also be ordered to pay a fine of up to $50,000, plus restitution to the victims whose property he burned. Hinchcliff said sentencing judges are prone to ensure victims are paid, and reduce fines accordingly.
Henderson”s San Diego defense attorney, Jeremy Dzubay, did not return calls from the Record-Bee by press time Friday.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
