DENVER (KDVR) — A man was sentenced Wednesday for a home invasion turned house fire that left an Adams County family shaken and their two dogs dead.
On Jan. 3, a man with a knife, now identified as Augustus Schneider, 35, broke into a family home on 80th Avenue while the family was inside. Adams County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to the home for a burglary while Adams County Fire crews were called for the house blaze.
The family spoke to FOX31 about the experience in January, telling Alliyah Sims that Zaide Taul was wrapping presents for a late Christmas celebration at about 2 a.m. when he saw a shirtless man outside the window. He went to the basement to wake his mom, when Schneider threw an item through the window, breaking it and entering the home.
Taul woke his mother, Jennifer Jenson, and the pair ran outside and jumped a fence to pound on a neighbor's door for help. Moments later, smoke started pouring out of the home.
Investigators say Schneider set the fire in the basement, while the family's two dogs were still in the home. The pair, Roxy and Marsae, were killed in the fire.
Schneider pleaded guilty under a plea agreement to one count of first-degree arson, one count of aggravated cruelty to animals, and menacing with a real/simulated weapon. For this, a judge sentenced him to 10 years in the Department of Corrections for arson and will serve six years concurrently for the charge of aggravated animal cruelty, according to court records.
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