Source: Office of United States Attorneys
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Acting U.S. Attorney Joel L. Violanti announced today that Jermaine Fields, 38, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa to arson, which carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum penalty of 20 years, and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles E. Moynihan, who is handling the case, stated that on April 17, 2024, the Rochester Fire Department received an alarm call from the Abundance Co-Op Market on South Avenue in Rochester, for a fire in the men’s bathroom. When firefighters arrived, they entered the bathroom and smelled an odor of burning rubber, but there were no flames visible. Firefighters did observe burned debris with burn patterns on the floor and on the wall behind the toilet. Law enforcement reviewed security camera footage from the store, which depicted a person later identified as Fields, walking throughout the store and entering the men’s bathroom and then exiting. The store fire alarm activated seconds later. Fields was arrested several days later and charged with arson. Fields has also admitted to starting papers on fire in one of the stairwells at the Hall of Justice on Exchange Boulevard in Rochester on April 5, 2024.
The plea is the result of an investigation by the Rochester Fire Department, under the direction of Chief Stefano Napolitano, the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Smith, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Bryan Miller, New York Field Division.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 16, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Siragusa.
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