Kenneth Morton Carson
HANCOCK COUNTY — A Whiteland man who a county woman said had previously tried to hurt her and was accused of setting the woman’s home on fire in November, 2021 pleaded guilty to that crime this week in Hancock County Superior Court 1. However, most of the sentence handed down through a plea agreement will be served on probation with officials in Hancock County Behavioral Court, records show.
Kenneth Morton Carson, 44 of Whiteland, was facing a Level 4 felony count of arson from an incident on Nov. 1, 2021. The crime carries a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
Carson admitted guilt Wednesday, Nov. 30 in front of Sr. Judge Donald Curry who accepted the plea agreement, court records state. Carson was sentenced to 1,825 days (five years) in the Indiana Department of Corrections, with 376 days executed and 1,449, suspended subject to compliance with terms of Behavioral Health Court. Carson has served 282 actual days and was given 94 days of good time, meaning his time behind bars is over.
Carson was ordered to serve 90 days of Community Corrections Home Detention and ordered to report to Behavioral Health Court Friday, Dec. 9 and to Community Corrections by end of business day on Dec. 9, court records state. Non-compliance could result in Carson having to serve the full sentence at the IDOC.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a woman contacted police in October of 2021 and reported Carson was threatening to kill himself and he had also threatened to stab her in the past. The woman told officials there was a no-contact order against him but it had not yet been served.
Carson was eventually served the order by sheriff’s deputies, the affidavit said, but he continued to harass the woman via text and phone messages. Due to Carson’s medical needs, he could not be arrested at the time for the violations of the order, the report stated.
On Nov. 1, 2021, officers were dispatched to the woman’s home, across the road from Mt. Comfort Elementary School, 5694 West County Road 300N, for a reported arson. First responders found the west side of the house had caught fire, the affidavit said.
Buck Creek Township Fire Department officials found the presence of an accelerant, the affidavit said. Investigators later found Carson at Community Hospital East on Nov. 2; hospital officials told them some of his clothes had smelled of gasoline when he arrived. They also found his cigarettes had the same gold ring around the butt as those found at the scene of the fire.
Officials also were able to talk with an Uber driver who gave Carson a ride to the hospital, and the driver noted Carson smelled of gasoline, the affidavit said.
When investigators were finally able to talk with Carson on Nov. 30, 2021, he said he set out to kill himself on the night of Oct. 31 and did soak himself with gasoline. But he changed his mind about hurting himself, the affidavit said.
Investigators then told him GPS evidence from his phone showed he had walked from a gas station to the woman’s house that night. Carson said he might have been in the area but wasn’t near her house, the affidavit said.
Detectives, however, found a text on Carson’s phone he had sent that stated, “I’m not about to kill myself, I’m gonna hurt her. I’m so damn mad,” the affidavit said.
This story by Kristy Deer is shared from the (Greenfield) Daily Reporter, a sister newspaper to the Daily Journal.
