MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. — A local man was given his sentence for setting fire to a home in April.

McHenry County State's Attorney Randi Freese announced on Oct. 2, 37-year-old Jesse Mendez of Garden Prairie was sentenced to fourteen years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for residential arson.

On the morning of April 20, 2025, Mendez and another person drove to a home near downtown Crystal Lake. Mendez's passenger got out of the vehicle with a metal container containing a flammable liquid, which had been ignited, and threw the container at the home.

The residence caught on fire, damaging and charring the outside walls. The fire was put out by a passerby.

The Crystal Lake Police Department launched an investigation and arrested Mendez and his accomplice. Their investigation reve

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