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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man accused of hitting his wife before setting the family's home on fire has been sentenced to prison.
Third District Judge Royal Hansen ordered Christian Thomas Allen, 46, to spend five years to life in prison for aggravated arson, a first-degree felony, and zero to five years for aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, in connection with the July 3, 2010 incident.
The prison terms are to be served concurrently. Allen has been ordered to pay $2,080 in fines and restitution in an amount yet to be determined.
The incident began when Allen's wife went to the family's home near 200 East and Hampton Avenue with her children to gather some belongings because they had been staying at her mother's home to take "care of her mother's diabetic needs," court documents state.
When the woman entered the home, Allen slapped her in front of one of the couple's children.
According to prosecutors, he then choked her and poured gasoline on her. In an email to the Deseret News, the woman said her husband did not pour gasoline on her.
"Two drops splashed on my shirt," she wrote.
The woman and children were able to make it out of the residence and to the home of a neighbor before the man set the house on fire. Firefighters contained the flames to one room, but the blaze still caused an estimated $40,000 in damage.
Allen pleaded guilty to the two charges in January. Additional charges of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, a third-degree felony, were dismissed in exchange for the man's plea.
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