A man working at McDonald’s started a massive dumpster fire when the business showed no signs of slowing down during his Sunday shift last year, federal prosecutors said.
Joshua Daryl McGregor cleared the crowd of hungry customers at the Savannah, Georgia, McDonald’s by lighting a piece of cardboard on fire and tossing it into a dumpster, which had more pieces of cardboard, according to court documents.
McGregor, now 34, of Savannah, was “frustrated because the drive through was so crowded,” court documents say.
He made sure the fire ignited, went back inside and then returned to film the blaze as it grew larger, causing cars lined up in the drive-thru to leave, including customers who never received their food, according to prosecutors.
The fire “became so intense” that the restaurant temporarily closed down, prosecutors said.
Now McGregor has been sentenced to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to arson, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia said in a July 31 news release.
There was no question McGregor caused the blaze, as he was seen starting the fire on McDonald’s surveillance footage, according to his plea agreement. At the time, he was training to be a manager and later posted footage of the fire on Facebook, prosecutors said.
“Certainly, we were disappointed that Josh would face any form of federal prison time for this incident,” McGregor’s defense attorney, William Joseph Turner, told McClatchy News on Aug. 1.
“The original recommendation to the Court was over 15 years in custody, which would have been a travesty of justice,” Turner said.
“Josh is a good man that made a mistake, and he will move past this,” he added.
The Savannah Fire Department extinguished the fire and McGregor was arrested by police, prosecutors said.
He was ordered to pay restitution for the property that was damaged by the flames as part of his sentence, according to prosecutors, who didn’t specify the restitution amount. McGregor’s sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, prosecutors said.
“Intentionally setting a fire in an effort to shut down or damage someone else’s property is inexcusable,” U.S. Attorney Jill Steinberg said in a statement. “Joshua McGregor will have substantial time to ponder his post-prison employment options.”
McClatchy News contacted McDonald’s for comment Aug. 1 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
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