An eastern Iowa man will serve 20 years on three arson convictions in federal court. A jury found 40-year-old Shawn Gant of West Union guilty of three counts of arson during a trial in July of this year.
Court records show Gant was accused of setting fire to a rental home in Independence in July of 2009, setting fire to another rental home in Fayette in October of the same year, and setting fire to a building in Oelwein in May of 2010. That Oelwein fire burned out of control due to heavy winds and led to two firefighters suffering minor injuries.
Gant had previously been convicted of two counts of arson for a car fire he admitted setting in Decorah and an apartment fire in Oelwein in 2002. He was sentenced to 240 months of prison on the latest arson convictions and ordered to pay over $418,000 in restitution to three victims of the fires.