Kids were in California home when man threw Molotov cocktails through window, feds say

A man hoping to “settle a score” threw two Molotov cocktails into a California home where three children were alone inside, federal authorities said.

Now he’s going to prison for five years.

Sylvester Andrews Jr., 39, had pleaded guilty in June 2021 to malicious damage to buildings or real property affecting interstate and possession of an unregistered destructive device, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of California.

Police and firefighters in National City got a call of a vehicle fire at a home on May 20, 2018, according to the news release.

Authorities found a car — blanketed in beach towels doused in flammable liquid — engulfed in flames at the house, the release said. As firefighters put out the flames, they noticed a window was broken in the house.

Inside the home, authorities found two Molotov cocktails filled with gasoline that had not ignited, and three juveniles.

Investigators determined Andrews had been in a fight with a parent of the children, which prosecutors say prompted the defendant to set the vehicle on fire in the early morning of May 20 and throw the Molotov cocktails through the window, the release said.

“(Andrews) attempted to ignite the Molotov cocktails using an open flame and attempted to damage or destroy by means of fire or explosive, the victim’s residence,” prosecutors said in the plea agreement.

Texts, DNA evidence and other items indicated that Andrews had been involved in the crime, according to the release.

“This defendant’s actions put three children at great risk because of a grown-up grudge, and the price for that is prison,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in the release. “This is a fitting sentence for an offender who used an explosive device to settle a score.”

Andrews’ attorney, Lupe Rodriguez Jr., told McClatchy News that the sentence was fair and that Andrews gave a heartfelt statement, including an apology, to the victims before the sentencing.

National City is about seven miles south of San Diego.

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