KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A Paw Paw man charged with setting fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Kalamazoo in July 2022 has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Joshua Brereton in October agreed to plead guilty to a federal court of arson. In exchange, federal prosecutors agreed to drop a second charge of damaging property providing reproductive health services.
The fire was set Sunday afternoon, July 31 at the Planned Parenthood of Michigan on West Michigan Avenue near South Drake Road.
According to court documents, Brereton went there with materials to start the fire that he had purchased earlier that day at a Walmart in Paw Paw, and got through a 6-foot fence by “tampering with the bolts.” He then used torch fuel and a lighter to set fires near the front entrance and southwest corner of the building and threw a burning Duralog onto the roof.
Firefighters were able to put out the flames in about 10 minutes with the outside of the building sustaining some damage.
Brereton was caught in the act on a surveillance camera.
After the sentencing Monday, Mark Totten, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, said it was “a moment of accountability for what was really a senseless act of violence.”
