Investor pleads guilty to arson at city home
Jeffrey Helenbrook, a real estate investor, pleaded guilty Tuesday in the arson that destroyed an allegedly money- losing home he had purchased on Dartmouth Avenue.
Helenbrook, 46, of Genesee Street, Bowmansville, pleaded guilty to a reduced felony charge of attempted arson and to reckless endangerment for the Nov. 14, 2005, fire that destroyed the vacant home at 346 Dartmouth. Erie County Judge Sheila A. DiTullio said she is considering sentencing him to probation. He had been charged with arson and faced a possible 15-year prison term.
Helenbrook admitted he paid someone to torch the building because it was an unprofitable real estate investment. Though Helenbrook was not required to disclose the name of the actual arsonist, prosecutor Mark A. Sacha later confirmed that investigators are zeroing in on a suspect. While the house was vacant, Sacha said the reckless endangerment charge stemmed from the fact that individuals lived in homes next door and that firefighters also faced danger.
Free on $5,000 bail pending his May 26 sentencing, Helenbrook declined to comment as he left court. To get the plea deal, he had to abandon the $40,000 insurance claim he filed after the fire. He paid $17,500 for the house in December 2000, according to court records.
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