Two plead guilty to setting 2000 fire at Seton Hall University dorm

Published: 2006-11-27

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (CNS) -- Msgr. Robert Sheeran, president of Seton Hall University, said he was relieved that two former students accused of setting a dormitory fire on campus nearly seven years ago have "accepted personal and legal responsibility" for their actions. Former students Joseph Lepore and Sean Michael Ryan, both 26, pleaded guilty Nov. 15 to arson and witness tampering surrounding the January 2000 fire in the freshman dormitory that killed three students and injured more than 50 others. The charges carry five-year prison terms. Lepore, reading a signed agreement in a Newark courtroom, said he and Ryan set fire to a banner that had been draped on a sofa in the third-floor lounge of Boland Hall Jan. 19. "I did not intend to injure anyone," Lepore said. "It was a prank that got out of hand." In a Nov. 15 statement, Msgr. Sheeran said he was praying for continued healing "for the families who have lost their sons" and for those who were injured. He also said he hoped the two men who pleaded guilty will "be able to rebuild their lives" and in time "might help and heal others."

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