A letter of condemnation from the Great Barrington Board of Health is taped to one of the doors at 232 Stockbridge Road. Former owner Harry Sano Jr. Thursday pleaded guilty to setting ablaze the structure in south county last summer, and received probation.
This building on Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington formerly housed the Wonderful Things gift shop. Its former owner, Harry Sano Jr., admitted Thursday in Berkshire Superior Court to charges he set fire to the property on July 7, 2021.
A letter of condemnation from the Great Barrington Board of Health is taped to one of the doors at 232 Stockbridge Road. Former owner Harry Sano Jr. Thursday pleaded guilty to setting ablaze the structure in south county last summer, and received probation.
PITTSFIELD — An 86-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday to setting ablaze the site of his former “Wonderful Things” yarn store in south county last summer. He was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $5,000.
Harry Sano Jr. admitted in Berkshire Superior Court to charges he set fire to 232 Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington on July 7, 2021.
Sano set the blaze, Assistant District Attorney Joseph Yorlano said, while a sale was pending to a buyer who planned to tear down the structure.
A $750,000 insurance claim was filed for the fire, Yorlano said, signed by Sano’s wife. But the prosecutor said there’s no evidence that Sano’s wife of 62 years knew what her husband had done — believing he had gone to the library the day of the fire.
Sano and his wife used to own the yellow, three-story structure once home to the eclectic retail store for fiber and yarn, with several housing units upstairs.
The structure had a history of unsafe living conditions. The units were vacated before the fire, after the town deemed them uninhabitable.
Great Barrington firefighters responded to the structure about 8 p.m. and saw smoke coming from the basement and second floor, the prosecutor said. Authorities said last summer that flames licked the walls and ceilings, and firefights spent hours tackling hot spots.
Firefighters noticed that lines of rope and other materials had been set out, apparently to ignite combustable materials. That caused the fire to rapidly grow and spread.
Yorlano said it was clear to first responders the fire had been intentionally set. They called local police and fire investigators with state police.
This building on Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington formerly housed the Wonderful Things gift shop. Its former owner, Harry Sano Jr., admitted Thursday in Berkshire Superior Court to charges he set fire to the property on July 7, 2021.
Police linked Sano’s Prius to the scene of the fire and executed a search warrant at his home. Authorities found the same kind of flammable wax located at the fire, a product once sold in the Sanos’ store.
Sano was arrested and charged with setting the blaze.
He was indicted in October with burning a dwelling or house, burning an insured property with the intent to defraud and making a fraudulent insurance claim.
He pleaded guilty to those charges in Thursday afternoon.
The prosecutor, defense and the judge each recognized Sano, a father of four, for spending years in military service and for his decades as a school teacher.
Defense lawyer Alexander Sohn said his client served in the Air Force and National Guard for seven years, then worked for 30 years as a teacher of the industrial arts in Chatham and at Mount Everett High School.
He indicated Sano is in counseling and said his client is sorry for his actions.
“I am confident you will never see Sano in this court again. He’s very sorry for the public time and energy that has been exerted in this matter. He didn’t understand the implications of what he was doing,” the attorney said.
The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office sought a sentence of 60 days in the House of Correction. Yorlano said Sano had no past criminal record, but that the sentence reflected the seriousness of the arson offense.
“Luckily, nobody was hurt,” said Yorlano.
Judge John Agostini said in court documents Sano was by all accounts an “exemplary citizen.”
In court Thursday, Agostini said he wrestled with this case, having trouble squaring how “someone who has navigated life so well” and had been so successful made the decision to set the fire.
“You’ve lived an exemplary life up until this point of time,” Agostini said. The judge sentenced Sano to two years probation, waiving travel restrictions and probation fees, and ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine.
The judge said Sano’s actions could have caused a tremendous tragedy or injury. He felt Sano understood the consequences of his crime.
“We all learn from our mistakes,” Agostini said. “However, it’s better to learn from the mistakes of others.”
Amanda Burke can be reached at aburke@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6296.
Amanda Burke is Cops and Courts Reporter for The Berkshire Eagle. An Ithaca, New York native, she previously worked at The Herald News of Fall River and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise.
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