Victims, officials consider lessons from arson case

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Serial arsonist Thomas Sweatt knows he will spend the rest of his life in prison after his sentencing last week for 45 fires in the Washington region. But for many of his victims, home is still an uncertainty.Anita Kyler, 94, Sweatt’s first known victim, is still not back in her Southeast Washington home which was torched March 8, 2003. She pays $800 a month to rent an apartment at a senior center while repairs continue.“My mom has almost depleted all of her savings trying to keep the house intact. She says she feels like she is an airplane going from place to place,” daughter Jean Kyler said.The Northeast Washington home that Lou Edna Jones, 86, and her family lived in for more than 50 years is still boarded up from the fire that claimed her life June 5, 2003. Her son, Eddie Jones, said he never felt so helpless as when he stood and watched the top of his mother’s house burn.U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Chasanow said victim impact statements revealed all felt a loss of personal security — and many were still facing the loss of financial security as their family’s biggest asset went up in flames.Chasanow sentenced Sweatt to life plus 136 years and ordered the fast food restaurant manager to reimburse victims for costs not covered by insurance. But she warned it is unlikely they will ever collect, comparing their suffering to what happened with Hurricane Katrina.“You had disruption equivalent to the Gulf Coast, but each of you faced that displacement alone,” Chasanow told victims.Meanwhile, members of the Arson Task Force hope Sweatt’s life sentence will begin “to foster healing for all in our community.”“We are so sorry for their losses,” said task force head Theresa Stoop, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.She said investigators have made improvements in everything from the way they set up files to how they vet leads. Drivers license checks between Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia are now easier. Likewise, databases and records in each jurisdiction are now easier to search.“My hope is the fact that we did solve this case allows the community to have more confidence in the expertise that surrounds them,” Stoop said.