Hobart man gets 15 years for setting multiple arson fires; victims describe destruction of property and livelihoods
GREEEN BAY – James Ambrosius stared at the floor in a federal district courtroom Wednesday as a string of victims of arson told a judge what those fires had cost them and their loved ones.
A barn over 100 years old was destroyed by one arson fire. A farmer, approaching retirement after a career running a dairy, was never the same after a heart attack the night Ambrosius set fire at the farm. Dairy cattle, beloved as if they were members of the family, died screaming as they perished in the flames.
"I was in our barn the night it (burned) down," said Daniel Detrich, who believes he could have been killed had pieces of the roof fallen on him instead of landing nearby. "It was my farm, my dad's farm, my wife's farm. It wasn't just empty sheds; it was people's livelihoods."
U.S. District Judge William Griesbach listened patiently as victims explained the effects the fires had on their lives. He then sentenced the 25-year-old Ambrosius to 15 years in federal prison — the maximum he could assign — followed by three years of supervised release.
"No sentence will restore these victims to where they should be," Griesbach said.
The judge also ordered Ambrosius to wear an electronic monitor during his first year of release, saying the defendant will need to show he is no longer a danger to the community.
Ambrosius, of Hobart, was convicted for three counts of "arson of a building used in interstate commerce." Ambrosius admitted to police he set the fires to channel his anger for various affronts, including disliking a dog who belonged to a customer at Dedicated Repair Inc., a Ledgeview business where he worked at the time.
A forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Ambrosius at the request of his defense attorney testified Wednesday that the defendant had suffered significant losses early in life, and indicated he had not developed coping skills to handle them appropriately.
"He was left to his own devices because his mother wasn't there for parts of his childhood," said Dr. Deborah Collins, who also is an adjunct professor of law at Marquette University Law School. But she concluded he had "a lack of a clear motive for his fire-setting behavior."
Ambrosius had admitted to Brown County sheriff's investigators that he set a total of eight arson fires, according to public records. A number were crimes for which investigators had no suspects.
The local charges were dismissed in May in favor of the federal charges. Three misdemeanor charges against Ambrosius also were dropped; they included two accusing him of theft and one for obstruction of an officer.
One arson fire was set to cover up the theft of money Ambrosius stole to buy drugs, according to the records. Another was because he wanted to damage property owned by his aunt and uncle, the documents say.
He also admitted to setting a fire at his father's house in Hobart, and another at farms on Fernando Drive in southern Ashwaubenon. He also admitted to a third, in August 2018, at his aunt and uncle's farm on Orlando Drive in Ashwaubenon. Multiple cattle perished in that blaze.
Casey Froelich Gillette blamed Ambrosius for causing the heart attack her father suffered the night he discovered a fire at his dairy farm. She said she and her brother had stepped in to help run the farm..
In time that she measured in the number of days that had elapsed since her father's heart attack, she said on Day 909 her father was continuing to work his way back to be a major factor in running the farm.
The day of the fire, though, he collapsed, clutching his chest. His daughter can't forget the image.
"You, James, destroyed my father's legacy," she said, facing Ambrosius while he continued to stare at the floor. "I hope you burn in hell."
The most recent arson involved a March 2021 incident in which a truck was set afire at the Ledgeview business where he worked at the time. An insurance company paid a claim worth just over $47,000, court records show.
A criminal complaint filed shortly after his arrest had said Ambrosius started the fire to damage a truck because its owner had a large dog, which shed, and that he did not like repairing the vehicle.
Ambrosius was identified as a suspect in that fire by business employees who recognized him in a video taken during the blaze.
Contact Doug Schneider at (920) 431-8333, or DSchneid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PGDougSchneider.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Hobart man accused as serial arsonist gets 15 years in federal prison
