Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man who acknowledged tossing lit matches in an apartment, sparking a fire that killed an infant and damaged dozens of buildings, has been sentenced to three years in prison.
The Jersey Journal reports 20-year-old Edwin Diaz was sentenced on Friday in Hudson County on a reckless manslaughter plea in the March 2017 death of 1-year-old Eddie Gonzalez Jr.
Diaz says he was in the Union City apartment with the boy's father and they were lighting matches and tossing them on a cousin sleeping on a couch, which caught fire.
Diaz has apologized, saying there isn't a day he doesn't think "of the innocent child we lost that night." The boy's father pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced earlier to five years in prison.
___
Information from: The Jersey Journal , http://www.nj.com/jjournal
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
