Buffalo man sentenced for arson

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A Buffalo man who was convicted of arson of a commercial building has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

On June 13, 2014, Lowell Carey, 56, along with co-defendants Ryan Smolinski and Christopher Gorman, went to 349 Ontario St., Western New York Property Contractors, and threw a Molotov cocktail onto the roof of the building and placed another Molotov cocktail underneath a garage door on the side of the building.

On June 12, 2014, the three defendants were drinking at Carey’s house and Smolinski asked Carey and Gorman if they would help him burn the building, which housed his father’s failing business, according to the office of U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. They agreed and made the two Molotov cocktails from beer bottles they had been drinking from and using gasoline and a t-shirt as a wick.

The trio went to Western New York Property Contractors in the early morning hours of June 13, 2014 and set off the Molotov cocktails. The outside of the building was burned in the areas where the Molotov cocktails were located resulting in approximately $2,207.89 in damages.

Carey and Smolinski have been convicted and sentenced, Gorman has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing.