Man behind restaurant fire sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison

A Woodstock man named the ringleader behind the burglary and arson that destroyed a landmark McHenry restaurant was sentenced Friday to 31/2 years in prison.

A McHenry County judge rejected Brian C. Lawler's pleas for probation and ordered the prison term, saying anything less would diminish the seriousness of the crime.

"The defendant's actions threatened serious harm to innocent people, including the police and firemen who responded to the fire," Judge Sharon Prather said.

Lawler, 20, pleaded guilty in January to one count of arson stemming from the Feb. 9, 2009 fire that gutted Joey T's, a popular riverside eatery.

In court Friday, Lawler apologized to the restaurant's owners, but also recognized that words would not return their restaurant.

"I wish I could say something to make everything better, but I can't," he said. "I'm really trying to surround myself with positive people and make positive choices."

Authorities said Lawler, a former Joey T's employee, first suggested breaking into the business to steal a laptop computer and liquor.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 9, police said, Lawler and friend Kasimer Sowa smashed their way into the restaurant with a baseball bat while co-defendant Joseph Drews stood lookout outside. Once inside, authorities said, they began removing a safe, ATM, liquor and a laptop computer.

Lawler later told police that as they were leaving, Sowa ducked back inside the business and fire broke out a short time later. Sowa, however, told investigators that he saw Lawler spray an unknown liquid onto the restaurant's walls just before the fire began.

The fire caused about $238,000 in damage and forced the restaurant's owners to raze the building.

Sowa, 17, of Wauconda, was sentenced in November to 41/2 years in prison after admitting guilt to arson. Drews, 19, of McHenry, pleaded guilty to arson in August and was sentenced to six months in the county jail and two years probation.