The final person charged in a fire that destroyed the Campus Court plaza in Waterloo in 2010 has pleaded guilty.
Early on the morning of April 22, 2010, fire ripped through the University Avenue plaza.
The fire caused $4.5 million in damage and destroyed several businesses. The plaza reopened earlier this year with only two of its former tenants returning.
Two men, William Schneider and Daniel Campbell, pleaded guilty to arson in 2011. They were sentenced to eight and seven years in prison respectively.
Lyntje Zinger, who drove the two to the plaza, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months of house arrest and nine months of probation.
The final accused was Brent Campbell, former owner of the nightclub The Vault, who was charged with arson and conspiracy to commit arson.
In court Wednesday, Campbell pleaded guilty to counselling others to commit arson.
“The initial allegations were suggested that he solicited the commission of the crime,” said Craig Parry, Campbell’s lawyer.
“The level of my client’s admitted involvement was very minimal.”
Lawyers for both sides agreed that the potential witnesses in Campbell’s case were questionable.
Campbell was given a one-year conditional sentence, which didn’t sit well with some of the people affected by the fire.
The owner of restaurant Mel’s Diner, which has since reopened, tweeted the following message to CTV News:
“I would comment about the sentencing of Brent Campbell but I’d be afraid of someone throwing a Molotov cocktail at my house.”
Benny Afrouzi, owner of University Vision Centre, which moved to a new location after the fire, also expressed his disappointment with the sentence.
“It's a joke. People who are planning and committing these crimes, they use the loopholes in the justice system to get away from these crimes,” he said.
