The man who set a fire in the Pennsylvania Governor’s residence earlier this year entered guilty pleas and was sentenced this morning in Harrisburg.
At a plea and sentencing hearing this morning in Dauphin County, 38-year-old Cody Balmer was ordered to serve 25 to 50 years in prison for guilty pleas to charges of attempted murder, arson, aggravated arson, aggravated assault and burglary. The reduced charges were in connection with the fire at the Governor’s Residence on April 13th. Authorities said that Balmer scaled an iron security fence at 2:00 in the morning, eluded capture by authorities, broke into the house and used homemade “Molotov cocktails” to set fire to the residence. The attack came after Shapiro and his family hosted a Passover seder at the house.
Balmer turned himself into police the next day and said he planned to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he encountered him after breaking into the building. The event triggered an inspection of the facility and an upgrade to security and fire suppression systems.
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