How pathetic that he still professes his innocence and is going to waste even more taxpayer dollars on his appeal. I think 4-12 years is a fair sentence along with being ordered to pay restitution. Hopefully they will keep him for the full 12 years if he does go through with an appeal. Interestingly, I have learned that this is not Lon's first time with fire. Back when he lived in Ohio a garage was burned down intentionally that just happened to have Lon's car in it. I like what the judge said about it being a completely selfish act because that is exactly what it was. His life would have been so much better if he just admitted defeat, claimed bankruptcy and started over again learning from his mistakes.
Here it is again....
Coffee shop owner gets 4 to 12 years for insurance arson
ByMatt Gryta
News Staff Reporter
Updated: September 08, 2009, 5:04 PM
Former Buffalo coffee shop owner Lon Coldiron, still proclaiming his innocence, today was ordered to spend the next four to 12 years in state prison for setting fire to the building in a bid to collect insurance money.
Coldiron also was ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution to the insurance company for what Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk called his "terribly selfish" crime.
Coldiron, 43, was convicted by a jury July 27 of third-degree arson and attempted grand larceny for the Oct. 21, 2004, fire that destroyed his "Coffee &" shop and the three-story building it was in at 718 Elmwood Ave.
The judge denounced him for the "orchestrated" fire he falsely thought could generate insurance payments on his money-losing business.
It was Coldiron's second trial in connection with the fire. He was spared a jail term when an Erie County Court jury three years ago convicted him only of attempted grand larceny. However, an appellate court set aside that conviction and ordered a second trial because of juror misconduct in the first trial.
After Coldiron today insisted that "I'm still innocent and someday it will come out," Franczyk denounced him for the insurance ploy that prosecutors showed took place while his coffee shop was losing money and he was still gambling at nearby casinos "like a drunken sailor."
The judge also faulted him for causing damage to adjoining structures and putting Buffalo firefighters at risk in dealing with the early-morning arson five years ago. Franczyk also ordered him to repay Travelers Insurance Co. the $250,000 it paid the owner of the building destroyed in the arson.
John K. Jordan, Coldiron's attorney, said the conviction will be appealed.
Happy Birthday Mike!
There are slight variations on how orientation can be recorded, but generally (e:strip) won't rotate something unless it's sure about what to do. It's not based on width vs height from what Paul has said.
I think it rotates the picture when the height is much smaller than the width and the resize skews it even more - or some such thing. I have seen some of my pictures uploading like this. I pull them and make the height:width much much larger.
that was from my garage sale. I got it from my friend Katrina when she worked at media play and it was a display they were throwing out. The best part is someone like 20something guys bought it at the garage sale for like 5 dollars after much hemming and hawing about it
I have no idea about the upload, the only guess that I have is that I really have no idea, but maybe the height is the same size as the regular width of (e:strip) so it puts it that way, but not sure I would think (e:paul) would know for sure.
The more important question, David, is what is up with that Dawson's Creek picture?