MOORHEAD - Tara Andvik, the Barnesville-area woman convicted last month of trying to burn down her own farmhouse, is heading to state prison for at least three years and 10 months and will be under the direct supervision of authorities for more than two decades.
Andvik was sentenced this morning in Clay County District Court. She was convicted in a May trial in which she tried pin the blame for a series of fires last fall on an ex-lover.
For the first time, Andvik took responsibility for the fires in court today, saying "I don't understand why I did it."
"I didn't intend for things to go this far," said Andvik, who said she had been abusing prescription drugs at the time of the fires.
Andvik, who was convicted on three first-degree counts of arson, was sentenced to four years on the first count and five years and nine months on the second count, prison terms that will be served at the same time. With credit for good time in custody, she could be out after three years and 10 months and serve one year and 11 months on supervised release.
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On the third count, Andvik was sentenced to another four-year prison term, which was suspended for the duration of a 20-year term of supervised probation.
She was also ordered to pay her insurance company $13,930 in restitution.
