A Decatur man will serve three years in state prison after setting four fires west of Athens in 2014, records show.

Eric Mitchell Hall, 29, of 1909 Carpenter Drive SW, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree arson Nov. 14, 2018, in Limestone County Circuit Court. In exchange for his guilty plea, one count of first-degree arson and two counts of second-degree arson were dismissed in accordance with a plea agreement arranged by the Limestone County District Attorney’s Office, court records show.

Circuit Judge Robert Baker accepted the plea agreement, which included sentencing Hall to 15 years in prison, with all but three years suspended and 14 months of credit for time already served in another jail and in the Limestone County Jail, records show. Hall was ordered to pay $53,970 to victims. He was also ordered to serve three years on probation once his jail time is served, records show.

Hall was to begin serving his sentence Wednesday.

The case

Madison authorities said Hall, who had worked with Huntsville Emergency Medical Services Inc., broke into a HEMSI ambulance at the station located at 1825 Jeff Road in Madison County on Jan. 25, 2014, and stole a medical bag containing supplies, said Madison County Sheriff’s Investigator Sgt. Brian Chaffin at the time of the fire.

On Feb. 7, 2014, another burglary occurred at the Jeff Road station after ambulance personnel had been called to a wreck, Chaffin said.

“When they (ambulance personnel) returned, it appeared someone had started a fire at their station,” Chaffin said. “Upon further investigation, it was found the building had been entered unlawfully and a fire started.”

Following an investigation, authorities developed Hall as a suspect.

During Hall’s interview, investigators determined he was responsible for similar crimes committed in surrounding counties. They notified authorities in Limestone and other counties about Hall.

Madison County charged Hall with second-degree arson, one count of third-degree burglary and two counts of breaking and entering a vehicle. During questioning about the Feb. 7 arson, Hall told a deputy state fire marshal he also started three of four fires that occurred Dec. 14 and 15 in the area of the Chris Way Trailer Park where he lived west of Athens, said Limestone County Sheriff’s Chief Investigator Stanley McNatt in 2015.

Among the four Limestone County fires to which Hall confessed was a blaze set on Bell Road that destroyed a house a man was working on and a Corvette. Hall did not confess to the fire that started in the laundry room of the mobile home where he was staying at the time, McNatt said, but he was charged with starting that fire.