West Texas Man Gets 6 Years in Prison for Arson Fires

A West Texas man who sometimes showed up at fires before emergency personnel arrived has been sentenced to six years in prison for arson.

A federal judge in Midland on Wednesday sentenced 64-year-old Jimmie Doyle Farris.

Farris in April pleaded guilty to maliciously damaging real property by means of fire. He took responsibility for starting eight fires.

Prosecutors linked Farris to more than a dozen fires during 2011 in Midland, Ector, Andrews, Winkler and Crane counties. Farris had been under surveillance when he was arrested on June 15, 2011, near the scene of a suspicious fire on a ranch near Midland.