{Charleston, West Virginia}...Thirty-seven year old Charles Darren Roberts of Alum Creek was sentenced Tuesday to six years on arson and involuntary manslaughter charges. Police say Roberts ignited a cardboard box to catch a tire on fire which also set 160 railroad ties on fire near the Steven Wayne Smith Memorial Bridge on Corridor G last December. Davis Creek volunteer firefighter Joey King fell from the bridge while trying to locate the source of the fire. In April, a grand jury indicted Roberts on charges of first-degree murder in connection to King's death. In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to reduce the murder charge to involuntary manslaughter. The six-year term, which included five years for the counts of arson and a year for the involuntary manslaughter, was the maximum sentence Roberts could have received by law.
