Ex-boyfriend sentenced for armed carjacking, setting house on fire in Butler Township
Jun. 8—WILKES-BARRE — A man from Schuylkill County accused of stealing the vehicle of his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint and setting her house on fire in Butler Township was sentenced to up to 14 years in state prison Thursday.
Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough sentenced David Christopher Carls III, 59, of Frackville, to seven to 14 years on charges of robbery and arson. Carls did not contest the charges in April.
State police at Hazleton accused Carls of showing up at the woman's employment in Hazle Township and using a spare key to open the locked doors on her 2019 Jeep Cherokee on Nov. 16, 2021, according to court records.
The woman said she was fearful of her ex-boyfriend and waited in her vehicle to walk in with her supervisor.
When Carls got into the vehicle, he aimed a firearm at her and grabbed her to prevent her from escaping, court records say.
Court records say Carls fled in the woman's Jeep and drove to her house on Trapper Springs in Beach Mountain Lakes, a private and gated community along state Route 309.
State police in court records say Carls set the woman's house on fire, and it was destroyed in the blaze.
Carls was ordered to pay a total of $305,508 in restitution.
Assistant District Attorney Carl Frank prosecuted.
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