17-Year-Old Girl Admits Arson Over Arranged Marriage
LANSING (WWJ/AP) - A Lansing-area teenager admitted she set a fire in her house while her parents were sleeping because she didn't want to get engaged in an arranged marriage.
The 17-year-old from Albania pleaded guilty in Ingham County court Wednesday to second-degree arson. She told the judge she was "overwhelmed" by the engagement to a man in Albania, the Lansing State Journal reported.
"My parents were happy... I didn't want to get engaged," she told the judge.
As part of a plea agreement, the teen faces a maximum of three years of probation when sentenced in November.
The fire happened May 30 the girl's house in Holt. The teen said she didn't believe her parents' lives were in danger when she poured gasoline in her bedroom, hallway and bathroom and lit it with a match. No injuries were reported, but the home was damaged.
"Fires get out of control," Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told the teen. "What you did with gasoline could have caused not only just your own home to burn, but the neighborhood to burn."
At trial, the teen told the court her relationship with her parents has since improved. She's no longer engaged.
Under the state's Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, if the teen successfully completes her sentence, she will have no public criminal record.
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