KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A Paw Paw man who set fire to a Kalamazoo Planned Parenthood clinic was sentenced to 5 years in prison on Monday.
While Joshua Brereton said in his statement to the court that he “didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” it's still unclear what led up to his actions.
Brereton is accused of purchasing Citronella tiki torch fuel, a Duraflame fire starter log, a utility lighter, and a black baseball hat from a Walmart in Paw Paw, to set fires near the building.
According to Planned Parenthood’s Director of Safety Security and Facilities, Brereton caused over $30,000 worth of damage, referring to the incident as traumatic.
Brereton’s attorney said in court that he didn’t have a good answer as to why he did what he did. He added that Joshua didn’t have enough exposure to “the other side,” and that he has done his best to reflect on the crime and where he went wrong.
“While we as Americans may strongly disagree about issues of law and policy, violence is never ever an acceptable way to settle our disputes,” said U.S. Attorney, Mark Totten. Totten also said the sentencing sent a strong message. “ Our office today and every day will hold people accountable who resort to political violence.”
Although Judge Paul Maloney said its highly unlikely that Brereton will commit another crime, he did question why the “alarm bells” in his mind didn’t go off before setting the fire.
Brereton’s sentencing will be followed by several years of supervised release, and he will be required to pay over $32,000 restitution.
