PHOENIX — A man was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison for torching seven luxury homes under construction as he tried to stop development near protected desert areas.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton also ordered Mark Warren Sands to pay $2.8 million in restitution.
Sands cried as he turned to apologize to his family and victims sitting in the courtroom.
"I believed then — and yes, it was arrogant — that the fires and threats would make a difference," Sands said. "There is no environmental or religious excuse for terrorism of any kind."
Sands pleaded guilty in November to eight counts of extortion and one count of using fire to commit a federal felony. As part of a plea agreement, arson charges from an original indictment were dismissed.
Sands also admitted writing letters to the media and property owners warning that the fires would continue as long as people continued to build next to protected land in Phoenix and Scottsdale. One note, found April 29 said, "You build, we burn again."
"It is not simply the eight victims that sit behind me who were victimized in this crime," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Welty. "What he did was target the community as a whole."
Sands was arrested on June 14 on a federal indictment accusing him of setting eight fires in seven homes between April 9, 2000, and Jan. 18, 2001.
The indictment came on the strength of statements Sands made to a friend during a June 5 hike at the Grand Canyon. The friend was wired and an FBI agent was walking close by and listening.
The fires sent fear through the upscale neighborhoods surrounding the urban open-space preserves and brought federal and local law enforcement officials together in a search for the arsonist.
Mario Lio, whose home burned Oct. 20, said his family still lives in fear, even after moving into their completed home.
"There's something missing in my life because Mr. Sands burned my home," he said. "We're paranoid. We're constantly looking out the window, looking to see if people are watching."
His wife, Melanie, called Sands a terrorist. "He terrorized an entire neighborhood."
Sands' friends and family said they had trouble reconciling their view of a man they knew as a loving father and husband with the eco-terrorist officials said he was.