Crime & Safety
Man Who Set Fire to Strip Club Before Stealing Candy in Wantagh Gets Prison Sentence
The Hicksville man broke into a Wantagh smoke shop less than an hour after starting a fire in Bellmore, police say.
A Hicksville man charged with setting a strip club on fire and stealing items from a tobacco shop was sentenced to five years in prison, Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced Tuesday.
Craig Blum, 44, was also ordered to serve five years of post-release supervision and to pay $37,676.67 in restitution.
Police said Blum started a fire in the back of Billy Dean’s Showtime Cafe in Bellmore, damaging the hallway and bathroom in Dec. 2014. He was then arrested for stealing candy and a glass water pipe from a Wantagh shop about 35 minutes after the fire was reported, police said.
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“The defendant recklessly set fire to a building and endangered the lives of many people that night,” Singas said in a statement.
Blum pleaded guilty to second degree arson and third degree burglary on June 16.
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Image via NCPD
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