‘Going To Blow Tonight’ – Cantonment Man Sentenced For Arson Of His Grandmother’s Home

May 18, 2021

A Cantonment man has struck a plea deal and has been sentenced for setting fire to his grandmother’s house early this year.

Andrew Christian Geoghagan was charged with felony arson of a structure by the Florida Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives Investigations in connection with a fire in the 600 block of Jacks Branch Road in Cantonment on January 5, 2021.

Judge Jan Shackelford withheld adjudication and sentenced Geoghagan to six months community control (“house arrest”), 36 months probation and 100 hours of community service. He was also ordered to submit to drug and alcohol testing, pay fines and costs, seek employment and attend a weekly Narcotics Anonymous meeting.

According to prosecutor Elisibeth Davenport, Geoghagan started a fire in the crawlspace of his grandmother’s home using propane. The grandmother wanted to see Geoghagan receive drug treatment rather than spend time in state prison, Davenport said.

Before the fire, Geoghagan was seen taking a propane tank, and when confronted he stated, “that’s alright this [expletive] is going to blow tonight,” according to an arrest report. He was also seen in the area of the fire.

The estimated damage to the structure was approximately $1,000.

Pictured top: Andrew Christian Geoghagan appeared in video court before Judge Jan Shackelford. NorthEscambia.com image, click to enlarge.

Comments

8 Responses to “‘Going To Blow Tonight’ – Cantonment Man Sentenced For Arson Of His Grandmother’s Home”

  1. Nah on August 22nd, 2021 12:27 am

    @ Close Family Member I remember Andrew being a bad kid. Always hanging out with the wrong people (he was the wrong people), smokin dope and always trying to fight someone. This kid needs more than house arrest to straighten him out. Not likely that will ever happen.

  2. Justice on May 20th, 2021 8:20 pm

    Another stupid plea deal. Thug burns his grandmother’s house down and NOTHING happens to him. Oh yea, house arrest, WOW.
    Escambia County judical system is broke. The Sheriff’s Department puts these thugs in jail and judges let them out. SAD

  3. 429SCJ on May 20th, 2021 7:19 pm

    He needs to be in a supervised environment, under treatment.

    He needs to maintain his meds schedule.

    He needs at present to be restrained, until such time that he can be stabilized and evaluated.

    Mental illness is real and so are the dangers that left unsupervised, these people can fall into any misadventure.

    No budget for treatment facilities, not any more.

  4. Dakota Smith on May 19th, 2021 7:21 am

    Plain on stupid of him

  5. Family on May 18th, 2021 5:51 pm

    Everyone with a negative comment you are what’s wrong . He has serious mental health problems and it’s heartbreaking to see he use to such a great kid an hard worker when he started working . Everyone would rather lock someone up and that be it instead of them get mental health help, which is the root cause of most people’s drug use, and bad actions. I can promise you one thing for sure if anyone of you was in need or anything this boy you want to belittle would help you if he could. He has good i tensions he didn’t ask for this disease to take over him he didn’t ask for it to run I. The family an just so happen start showing I. Him

  6. Duke of Wawbeek on May 18th, 2021 3:41 pm

    “House Arrest”?

    A torch is a dangerous thing to have running loose; but considering the times that we live in, anything goes.

  7. Close Family Member on May 18th, 2021 12:13 pm

    @Deborah I am a close family member of his and I hope he learned from this as well. He is schizophrenic and has a drug problem. He is not a bad person and this isn’t an excuse for his actions but he didn’t do it with the intention of hurting anyone. The grandmother doesn’t deserve to be put through this at all she has been through enough the past few years but she just wants her grandson to get the help he needs and get well. Andrew needs help. He needs mental health support and drug rehabilitation. He used to be such a charming young man full of life. He could always make you laugh/smile. His actions are inexcusable but regardless he had and does still have so much potential to turn his life around, but he needs the help to do so. Hopefully with drug testing and NA meetings he will get clean and want to get mental health treatment and stick with it. Trying to help a family member get mental help when they are over 18 is hard. A lot of people with the problems Andrew has do not realize they are sick and they refuse treatment. I hope nobody reading this ever has to experience watching your loved one become a different person because of their mental health or their drug addiction.

  8. Deborah Daugherty on May 18th, 2021 9:44 am

    I hope he learned from this,but I don’t think he will..got off too easy…