DELHI _ A Walton man whose explanation for a fire sounded like a slapstick movie to the judge was sentenced to probation in Delaware County Court on Monday.
Delaware County Judge Carl Becker said Nicholas Di Puma's pre-sentence report "read like the plot of a Three Stooges movie."
Di Puma, 51, pleaded guilty to second- and third-degree attempted insurance fraud in a plea agreement. He was sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to pay $37,997 in restitution.
Becker said Di Puma intentionally caused a fire at a house at 140 Left Pines Brook Road in Walton and destroyed a convertible.
According to a report at the time of the fire, the house was engulfed in flames when the Walton Fire Department was called to the scene. The fire was stopped, but the house was destroyed because of smoke, water and fire damage, according to the fire chief.
Becker read a portion of the report in which Di Puma told probation officials he was at home with his nephew, packing to move to Texas. His wife was in Mountain Dale, also packing for the move.
Becker said Di Puma was allegedly preparing "sizzling steak in four pans on the stove and had the barbecue grill burning on the porch when alcohol in the pans caught fire."
Di Puma tried to put the fire out with a dishrag, but the dishrag caught fire, so he took one pan and threw it out the front door, where it landed in the backseat of the convertible. He then took the second pan and was going to throw it out, but tripped over a box, and the pan landed on a leather couch, igniting it.
Di Puma ran outside to get two hoses, but there was only one there, so he attempted to put out the fire in the convertible, according to the report.
"I can't imagine this playing out in real life," Becker said.
In another case, Lewis C. Wolcott Jr., 31, of Sidney, pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and one count of fourth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Wolcott allegedly sold oxycodone and dihydrocodeinone with acetaminophen in Sidney on Aug. 26.
In another drug related case, Emily D. Vollkommer, 57, of Walton, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth-degree and was sentenced to five years probation.
Vollkommer allegedly sold oxycodone on April 20 and April 22. She was ordered to pay restitution of $50 to the Walton Police Department.
In other cases Monday:
ä John Mason, 55, of Kortright, pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless endangerment for firing a rifle three times near a motorist whose car had stalled on Braehead Road.
On June 27, Mason fired a rifle in the direction of the disabled vehicle and struck the ground nearby, according to a news release from state police at Sidney.
Mason was sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to have mental health and drug and alcohol examinations.
ä John Candelaria, 47, of Roxbury, pleaded guilty to a reduced count of second-degree robbery in a plea agreement in which he will be sentenced to three years in prison with three years' post-release supervision.
Candelaria's charges stem from an incident in Roxbury on July 7 in which he stole $50 from Jonathan Gutliph.
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Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
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