Oswego Man Sentenced in Residential Arson

A 21-year-old man who doused his girlfriend's house with gasoline and lit it on fire agreed to a seven-year prison sentence as part of a negotiated agreement, Eric Weis announced Tuesday.

Nicholas Wolgast pleaded guilty to residential arson in connection with an incident at about 10 p.m. Feb. 8 on Dolores Street in an unincorporated area near Oswego, Weis said. He will serve two years of parole after finishing his prison sentence.

During an argument with his girlfriend and her mother, Wolgast took a gasoline can from the garage and and some of the contents inside the house, authorities said. He lit the flooring in the family room on fire with a disposable lighter as the mother tried to clean up the gasoline in the front landing area. The home, where Wolgast has been living at the time, was left uninhabitable by the fire.

Wolgast's clothing also caught fire, and emergency personnel found him wearing little clothing and trying to soothe his burns outside in the snow, the news release stated.

they found him a few blocks away from the home. He was taken to Rush-Copley Medical Center and later transferred to Loyola Medical Center for treatment of his burns.

“Based on the extent of the fire damage and the complete disregard for the safety of others, it is fortunate that only the defendant in this case was injured as a result of the fire," Weis said in the news release.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Dore.