Cda Man Sentenced For Arson

A Coeur d’Alene man will spend at least two years in prison for setting fire to a low-income housing unit in August.

Scott Patrick Giordano, 20, pleaded guilty in October to setting fire to four vehicles and a carport at St. Vincent de Paul’s transitional housing.

Giordano pleaded guilty to third-degree arson and agreed to pay more than $14,000 in restitution to the victims.

First District Judge James Judd sentenced Giordano on Tuesday to two years’ fixed and five years’ indeterminate prison time.

Giordano told police he set fire to a car belonging to the director of the transitional housing to get back at her.

Giordano admitted he set the fire in the early morning hours of Aug. 21 because he was angry director Fae Skific had evicted him from the housing program, court records say.

Giordano said he went to visit his wife and child who were at the housing units.

“They wouldn’t wake up, so I got upset at Fae for keeping me away from my family,” Giordano wrote in his confession to police.

Skific’s 1983 Nissan station wagon was destroyed in the fire. The blaze also jumped to two other residents’ cars and the housing center’s van.

Giordano apologized to the victims in the courtroom and asked Judd for leniency.

“I won’t do anything like that anymore. I apologize,” he said.

Kootenai County prosecutors asked for at least one year in prison.

Judd said in his sentencing that it appeared Giordano has always had problems obeying rules. He told Giordano that he showed a lack of foresight for other people’s safety and for the damage to the cars when he set fire to the vehicle.