MOUNT JOY, Pa. — A Lancaster County man will serve up to five years in state prison after pleading guilty to charges that he tried to burn down a home on the 200 block of Mount Joy Street last year.
The charges against 19-year-old Jeremy Michael Anderson, of Mount Joy, included ethnic intimidation; he told police he threw two Molotov cocktails at the home as an act of retaliation against Mexican immigrants that he said left empty bottles in front of his house, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.
Anderson also pleaded guilty to arson and scattering garbage in connection to the February 2021 incident. He was sentenced to a prison term of 2-5 years by Lancaster County Judge Howard Knisely on Jan. 5, according to prosecutors.
Police say on the morning of Feb. 26, 2021, officers responding to a complaint found two glass bottles with fabric coming out of the top, both of which appeared to have been ignited, outside a home on the 200 block of Mount Joy Street.
The odor of an alcohol-based accelerant was emanating from the bottles, police say.
Investigators found video surveillance from neighbors that showed a suspect, later identified as Anderson, carrying and igniting the bottles. Background noise in the video captured the sound of glass breaking, and the video then shows Anderson fleeing from the scene, according to police.
