Man who settled grudges by setting people's stores and homes on fire gets 15 years to think about what he did

Baez about to set a tire fire on Sigourney Street in JP [2].

Jose L. Baez, 41, of Dorchester, who admitted setting four fires - and was implicated in four others - earned a 15-year federal prison term on Friday, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports [3].

Among the places he tried to burn down: A salon on South Street in Jamaica Plain [4] (twice) owned by a woman whose decision to stop dating him angered him; a fire in a Roslindale apartment building where his former brother-in-law, displeased him over an unpaid loan; a fire in the Roslindale building where the ex-relation moved after the first fire; Jamaica Plain Auto Body, with whose work on his car he was dissatisfied; a Bay State Road building which housed a dentist whose bills displeased him; and the Whole Foods Market on Alewife Brook Parkway in Cambridge, whose decision to fire him enraged him.

Yet another fire he set on Firth Road in Roslindale injured five firefighters; prosecutors say he set that fire when a resident who dabbled as a bookie stopped taking his illegal bets - and possibly because another resident made a pass at him.

Baez's preferred medium was gasoline - which he supplemented in a couple of cases with tires [2].

In addition to his prison term, US District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock ordered Baez to pay $3.2 million in restitution for all the damage he caused.