Worker Sentenced for Setting Fire at Virginia Pet Store

A worker convicted of setting a fire at a pet store in Roanoke, Virginia will spend six months in prison.

Corey Brian Hite, formerly of Ivanhoe, was sentenced Monday in Roanoke City Circuit Court to 10 years in prison, with all but six months suspended. He had pleaded no contest to arson in April.

No one was injuried in the Nov. 14 fire at a PetSmart store. The fire caused $1.7 million in damage and lost sales.

Employees, customers and passers-by rescued the animals after the fire broke out.