Former Laurel police chief sentenced to 8 full life terms on arson charges

The former police chief of Laurel, Maryland, will spend the rest of his life behind bars for setting fire to several homes and a car, all of which belonged to people he believed slighted him.

A judge in Howard County sentenced David Crawford, 71, of Ellicott City, to eight life terms in prison plus 75 years for fires set in 2017 and 2018 in the county.

The sentence comes after Crawford was convicted of eight counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree arson and one count of first-degree malicious burning in March.

“What he did was really ugly, and he deserves every second of the sentence that has been imposed upon him,” said Howard County State’s Attorney Richard Gibson.

While the former police department leader is charged with setting 12 fires in several counties, the cases against him in Howard County included three house fires and one car fire between March 2017 and September 2018.

Read more: WTOP