Campbell County man fined for burning home

RUSTBURG — A Campbell County man convicted of burning his brother’s trailer home said he was so drunk he doesn’t remember what happened.

“If I did do it, I’m sorry,” Wesley Carroll Dudley said at his sentencing hearing Tuesday. “I don’t recollect a lot from that night.”

Dudley was convicted of burglary and arson. Campbell County Circuit Court Judge John Cook sentenced him to three years of probation and ordered him to pay $7,600 to the owner of the trailer park.

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul McAndrews said Dudley was found in the park on Airport Circle across Wards Road from the Lynchburg Regional Airport the night of Jan. 23 with cuts on his hands and with his clothes still smelling of kerosene.

At a July hearing, McAndrews told Cook that Dudley burned down the trailer as a result of an ongoing argument with his brother. Anthony Brantley testified Tuesday that there was no ill will between him and his brother.

“That’s a bald-faced lie,” Brantley said.

He said it was impossible for him to have been fighting with his brother that night because he was on his way home from Richmond. By the time he got to the trailer park, he said, Dudley was already handcuffed.

Dudley told the judge his abuse of alcohol had caused many of his problems. One witness testified Tuesday he didn’t think Dudley could have been responsible for the fire because he was so drunk that night he couldn’t stand up.

Cook suspended an eight-year sentence, but ordered Dudley to undergo any drug and alcohol abuse treatment ordered by his probation officer. He also ordered Dudley not to drink alcohol while he is on probation.

The owner of the trailer park was granted restitution for the cost of four vehicles and electric utility boxes damaged in the fire.

Cook said Dudley will remain on probation, even if it extends beyond the three-year sentence, until he pays off his restitution.

McAndrews had asked for a jail sentence given the danger to nearby residents and to firefighters and sheriff’s deputies who responded to the call that night.