Man who set Beacon Cleaners ablaze twice within a month sentenced to 1 year, $500k restitution

The man who set the South Hill’s Beacon Cleaners ablaze twice within a month in 2017 was sentenced Wednesday to one year in jail and ordered to pay more than $530,000 in restitution.

Scott M. Lenway, 44, pleaded guilty to first-degree arson and two counts of second-degree arson in November, according to court documents. A plea agreement allowed Lenway, who has a mental health diagnosis, to be released from jail this week with credit for time served while awaiting the resolution of his case.

A 27-year Spokane Fire Department Veteran was seriously injured when he fell from a ladder while fighting the August 2017 blaze set by Lenway at Beacon Cleaners on Grand Boulevard. The fire started outside the building and went up into the attic of the business. The damage was contained to the corner of the building, but two U.S. Postal Service vehicles parked nearby were also damaged.

Then, early that September, Lenway set a fire that spread to a trailer the Beacon Cleaners owners had set up in the parking lot, a bush, a power pole and the back of the building.

Lenway had previously received a longer sentence in November to be served in the Spokane County Jail’s mental health unit for setting the fires, but the state Department of Corrections requested to transport him to prison earlier this week, court documents show.

A Spokane County Superior Court judge signed off on a lower sentence after a public defender argued Lenway had already served more than 14 months in jail – the sentence he would have served without credit for time in jail awaiting trial.