A three-month crime spree that left in its wake property damage and broken hearts netted an East Brady teen 20 to 40 months in prison, 19 years of probation and nearly $150,000 in restitution.

The defendant, 19-year-old Sabatino “Sam” Marano, issued a brief apology for burglarizing, burning and stealing other people’s belongings before being sentenced Wednesday by Butler County Judge William Shaffer.

A handful of his victims attended the hearing, some writing the judge letters about how the crimes affected them.

They described endless hours of dealing with repairs, insurance agents and newfound concern for their safety.

“This was a crime that possibly was a practical joke, however the effect it had on me personally is something I’ll never forget,” wrote Cathryn Ramsey of Chicora. “I can honestly say I have never been so frightened in my entire life. I was awakened at approximately 3 a.m. ... to the glow of a fire and a sense of fear in not knowing what the ending would be.”

On that day, Aug. 10, 2009, Marano reportedly used a cigarette lighter to first ignite a junk car behind the Chicora Fire Hall on West Slippery Rock Street.

Minutes later and just a block away, Marano and another man allegedly set fire to an 8-by-8-foot wooden garage at Route 68 and Kittanning Street.

Flames quickly engulfed the barn-style, detached garage and ignited a storage shed in front of it.

Nearby homes, including Ramsey’s, were damaged by the blaze.

“I stood and watched as a fire blazed right at my house and the siding melted away, with the fear that I would lose my entire house,” Ramsey said.

That case alone, in which Marano pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson, accounted for $34,000 of the restitution.

In another case, coming the next day, Marano racked up another $102,000 in restitution to the Petroleum Valley Coalition, Karns City Football League and its insurers.

Marano and a 17-year-old-boy, reportedly vandalized a clubhouse destroying much of its contents and attempted to set it on fire before burning down a maintenance garage at the Petroleum Valley Youth Center in Fairview Township.

That garage contained tractors, mowers and other lawn equipment. The blaze also destroyed the storage shed that contained uniforms and equipment for the Karns City Football League.

Marano pleaded guilty to burglary and arson in that case.

He also pleaded guilty to burglarizing the home of Lee and Sara Schnell’s house in Karns City.

According to court records, Marano and another man broke into the house between Nov. 27 and Dec. 11, 2009, when the homeowners were vacationing in Florida.

Because of this incident, the couple has decided to sell their home in Florida and had bars installed on the windows of their Butler County home.

“We don’t feel our home in Karns City is safe if we are not there,” the couple wrote to the judge.

The burglars entered the Schnell’s home by breaking a basement window. They stole jewelry, coins, personal items and the couple’s GMC Envoy that was in the garage.

“There are unanswered questions that haunt us,” Sara Schnell wrote. “How long was he in our home?”

Marano reportedly told investigators he returned to the home a second time, alone, and stole a handgun he later traded for drugs.

“We have lived in our home for 41 years. Always felt it was a safe and secure town. After Mr. Marano came into our home and took things we can’t replace, we just don’t feel secure. A necklace that was my mother’s I had for 55 years is gone. A gun my husband had for 53 years is gone,” Sara Schnell wrote. “These things cannot be replaced.”

The couple’s vehicle was recovered. Court records say it had front end damage and had been doused with bleach.

“We had to sell it,” Sara Schnell wrote. “We lost money on it. We had feelings of anxiety and stress when we were in it. We were unable to drive it as it was a constant reminder to the crime that was committed.”

Marano was ordered to pay about $15,000 to the Schnells and their insurance company.

Marano also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft in which he and another man took an iPod and a wallet from a car in Karns City Nov. 30.

After court Wednesday, Marano’s mother Denise Marano of East Brady, said her son had always been a good child with no prior history of committing crimes.

He was always active in the community, she said, including being a regular volunteer to an anti-drug program in Armstrong County for five years.

Then, she said her son got mixed up with the wrong crowd and drugs.

“It was a very quick spiral downward,” she said.

Having spent the past 10 months in prison awaiting the outcome of these cases, Marano has taken advantage of treatment programs available to him there and earned his general equivalency diploma, she said.

Four community members also wrote letters to the judge in support of him.

Marano, who before his arrest regularly did lawn work for spending money, will seek employment more substantial when he gets out of prison, said his lawyer, Scott Bitar of New Kensington.

“He’s very sorry,” Bitar said. “And he told me his goal is to get everybody paid back.”