SMETHPORT — A Brockway woman was sentenced Thursday in McKean County Court for her role in a 2014 fire that destroyed a Kane home.
Karen L. Hatten, 62, will serve six to 23 ½ months in McKean County Jail. Restitution to Erie Insurance is set for $347,280.03.
In his order, President Judge John Pavlock said if Hatten completed 280 hours of community service, she may be released after five months. She must complete at least 75 hours of community service regardless.
On March 29, Hatten pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit arson. That same day, the codefendant, her daughter Holly L. Gausman, 43, of Grampian, pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial.
According to District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer, Hatten pleaded guilty to allegations that on Nov. 7, 2014, she conspired with Gausman to commit arson at a Tionesta Avenue, Kane, home belonging to Gausman.
Gausman collected $347,280.03 in insurance money from Erie Insurance after the fire, Shaffer said on the day Hatten entered her plea.
Hatten “didn’t receive one penny of insurance proceeds,” her attorney, Dennis Luttenauer, noted on Thursday.
Luttenauer described Hatten’s motivation for the fire: She was “under the belief that her granddaughter was being abused, and it was a way to get her granddaughter out.”
He added, “Miss Hatten has accepted responsibility for this. She has cooperated with the prosecution.”
Speaking on her own behalf, Hatten said, “I’m so very sorry for getting (caught) up in such a horrible, horrible event.”
She explained that she had been staying there all summer watching her grandchildren, but had her suitcases packed and in the car to leave the day Gausman suggested the fire.
“(Gausman’s) hysterical, so I’m hysterical,” said Hatten, describing how her daughter was getting emotional about the problems she was allegedly dealing with. “I didn’t see there was any way to talk her out of what she was going to do.”
According to Hatten, she did not know how much insurance Gausman had taken out on the house, and it wasn’t until later that she learned how long Gausman had been planning the alleged arson. On the day of the fire, Hatten believed it was a spur-of-the-moment idea.
Pavlock stressed how Hatten put others in the community at risk of harm in the fire “for selfish reasons.”
He repeated Hatten’s assertion that she did not know how much insurance was on the house and said, “There was a lot you didn’t know.”
“You don’t know if a fireman’s going to come along and lose his life,” Pavlock said.
Gausman remains free on $350,000 unsecured bail. A pretrial conference is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. May 24. No trial has been set as of yet.
Hatten was ordered as part of her sentence to testify truthfully in criminal proceedings regarding the matter.
