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© St. Petersburg Times, published December 17, 2002
LARGO -- A serial arsonist who admitted he got a thrill out of watching the Fire Department respond to fires he set was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday.
Christopher L. Dunn, 40, pleaded guilty to charges of arson, intentional burning of lands and criminal mischief. Largo police said he admitted to setting at least 22 fires in the city in a year's time when he was arrested last autumn.
Dunn faced a minimum of 15 years in prison because he had served prison time for other charges within the past three years. Circuit Judge Richard Luce sentenced him to 15 years in prison for arson and five years for the burning charge. The sentences will be served concurrently.
Luce also sentenced Dunn on seven misdemeanor criminal mischief charges, giving him credit for the 446 days he had already served in jail since his October 2001 arrest. That credit also will apply toward his 15-year sentence.
Three doctors examined Dunn's competency after his arrest. Two of those doctors found him competent to stand trial; one did not. Judge Luce decided last month that Dunn was competent.
Largo police and fire officials began suspecting in the spring of 2001 that a serial arsonist was on the prowl in the city. The arsonist usually set fires in the East Bay Drive corridor. Investigators found cigarette butts and beer bottles discarded near the scenes. The cigarettes were the DTC brand in green soft packs.
Five months later, Dunn became a suspect in the fires when he was arrested on charges of making false 911 calls, then watching firetrucks respond. Dunn lived near most of the fires and was known by the police to pedal his bicycle in the area.
Dunn also has a criminal history that includes charges of arson, criminal mischief and robbery.
When Detective Diane Martin visited Dunn at the Pinellas County jail, she told him that she knew what kind of cigarettes he smoked: DTCs in the green soft packs.
Dunn acknowledged that was his brand. He then unraveled and admitted to setting more than 20 fires. Dunn said he would set the fires, then sit and watch as the firetrucks and police cars responded. He sat swigging beer and smoking the DTCs as crews put out the flames.
Dunn told Martin he did it to relieve stress and anger, though he said it made him feel bad later.
Although getting him to admit to setting the fires was difficult, Martin said after the arrest that Dunn was pleased to get it off his chest.
At one time, Dunn, who had been working at a Largo KFC, asked Martin to hurry and charge him so he couldn't get out of jail and set more fires.
"I think there is a mental illness that is causing him to commit these crimes," Dunn's public defender, Dwight Wolfe, said after the sentencing. "It was almost an uncontrollable urge. He wants help."
Many of Dunn's early fires started with Dumpsters and trash cans, ignited with his lighter and some paper. He later graduated to brush and woodland fires, including about 10 fires at a park on Lions Club Road, police said.
His most damaging fire was on May 14, 2001, when he lit a blaze behind Sofa Warehouse, 4760 East Bay Drive. The fire burned the back of the business, disabled the electrical system for a week and sent smoke wafting through the building.
Luce also ordered Dunn to pay restitution to the victims of the fires. The amount has yet to be determined.
-- Chris Tisch can be reached at 445-4156 or tisch@sptimes.com .