NEW YORK — A high school senior who admitted to setting a fire that severely burned a homeless, sleeping man on a New York City subway car was sentenced to 66 months in prison on Tuesday, federal prosecutors said.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Hiram Carrero, 19, was sentenced by Judge Lewis J. Liman. The sentence the judge handed down was longer than the minimum required for an arson conviction, according to The Associated Press.
Carrero pleaded guilty to an arson charge on March 5, WABC reported. The New York City native was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution, WABC reported.
According to court documents, Carrero boarded a subway train on Dec. 1, 2025, at the 34th Street-Penn Station stop. In video footage that was presented as evidence, Carrero lit a piece of paper and tossed it at a sleeping man in the subway car.
Carrero then stepped back onto the platform as the train doors closed, leaving the victim trapped inside the car as it headed toward the next station.
Carrero later admitted to lighting the paper and throwing it at the victim.
First responders were able to save the victim’s life because they reached him after a “mercifully short trip” to Times Square, the AP reported.
The victim was taken to an area hospital in critical condition, prosecutors said.
“Setting fire to another person is a breathtaking, horrific, and unconscionable crime,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement. “Thanks to first responders and the women and men of the NYPD and the FDNY, the victim’s life was saved, and a horrific tragedy was averted.
“Today’s sentence demonstrates that anyone who terrorizes New Yorkers on the subway or anywhere else will face swift justice.”
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