Yonkers man sentenced to 12 years in prison for 2021 apartment arson

A Yonkers man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday for setting an apartment on fire with a resident inside in 2021.

Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah said Angel Rivera, 51, was seen on surveillance video walking up to an apartment building on Elm Street on June 7, 2021 at around 1:56 a.m.

The video allegedly shows Rivera lighting an object on fire and throwing it into an open window of a ground floor apartment, causing a fire in the unit.

Rocah said a bystander kicked in the door of the apartment and helped the sleeping resident escape before the Yonkers Fire Department put out the fire. The fire destroyed the apartment and the victim was subsequently displaced from their home.

“This deliberate act of destruction put residents in harm’s way and displaced a victim from his home" Rocah said in a news release Thursday. "It took a jury just 30 minutes to deliberate and weigh the evidence against this defendant, who now will be held accountable for his senseless actions.”

An investigation by the Yonkers Police Department identified Rivera from the surveillance footage and arrested him on June 9, 2021 after he was seen nearly two blocks from the location of the apartment fire. Police said he admitted to wanting to blow up the apartment following his arrest.

Rivera was found guilty by a jury of arson on April 12 after a two-week trial. He was charged with second- and third-degree arson. He was sentenced to 12 years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Yonkers NY man sentenced to prison for apartment arson