VALDOSTA —
One of four suspects accused of torching a Rocky Ford Road residence last year pleaded guilty this week.
Seventeen-year-old Johnny Wayne Smitty received 20 years probation after entering a plea of guilty to first-degree arson on July 9 when he appeared in Lowndes County Superior Court, said Southern District Attorney David Miller.
Smitty was also fined $2,000 dollars and sentenced to 120 hours of community service, said Miller. He was tacked with a bill of $17,000 in restitution fees, which Miller said could be split between any of the other three defendants if they are also found guilty of participating in the intentional blaze, which destroyed a family’s home.
Smitty had to submit a DNA sample to the court and must have no contact with the victims of the arson.
The other three defendants have not appeared in court to answer to charges of first-degree arson.
Tyler Jonathan Daniel and Randy Scott Riley Jr., both 19, could appear in court as early as the August/September cycle of the Southern Judicial Circuit trial rotation.
Both Daniel and Scott have been held in the Lowndes County Jail since Oct. 13, 2011. They each face five counts of burglary, which were accrued before the first-degree arson charges surrounding the Oct. 11 incident at the Rocky Ford Road residence.
The fourth suspect is a 14-year-old juvenile.
For more on this story and other local news, subscribe to The Valdosta Daily Times e-Edition, or our print edition.
