BANGOR, Maine — A Stonington man was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to seven years in prison for what the judge called “simply crazy conduct.”
Jeremy James Eaton, 40, pleaded guilty in March to setting ablaze another man’s lobster boat on April 16, 2014.
The vessel was destroyed, according to court documents.
“To burn a lobsterman’s boat is to destroy his livelihood,” U.S. District Judge John Woodcock said in imposing the sentence recommended by the federal prosecutor. “You really struck at the heart of your community.”
In addition to prison time, Woodcock sentenced Eaton to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $25,000 in restitution to the firm that insured the boat.
Eaton’s conduct was described Thursday by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Moore as a “personal vendetta” against the boat owner with whom Eaton had a “long history of animosity.” A more specific motive has not been made public.
