Teen gets 5½ years for subway fire that burned sleeping man
Hiram Carrero, 19, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court after admitting he set a fire that severely burned a homeless man on a subway.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
A New York City teenager was sentenced to 5½ years in federal prison after admitting he set a fire on a subway that severely burned a sleeping homeless man. The Associated Press reported that the case added to public concern over attacks in which people have been set on fire on transit systems in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman imposed the sentence Tuesday in Manhattan federal court on Hiram Carrero, 19, the AP reported. Carrero, described by the AP as a high school senior, pleaded guilty in March to an arson charge.
The AP reported that Liman’s sentence exceeded the mandatory minimum required for arson. Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence Carrero to as much as eight years in prison, according to the AP.
Prosecutors said victim was left with lasting injuries
The fire happened early on Dec. 1, 2025, according to the AP. During his guilty plea, Carrero acknowledged that he intentionally lit a piece of paper and that the act injured the man, the AP reported.
In a sentencing filing described by the AP, prosecutors said Carrero’s actions left the victim critically hurt, with extensive permanent scarring and disfigurement. Prosecutors called the conduct “heinous actions” in their presentence submission, according to the AP.
Federal prosecutors said in court papers that Carrero tried to kill “a sleeping, homeless man” by setting him on fire and leaving him on a moving subway car, the AP reported. They said emergency workers reached the man quickly after the train traveled from Penn Station at 34th Street to Times Square, a trip prosecutors described as “mercifully short,” according to the AP.
Prosecutors argued in court filings that the attack was close to being a murder case and criticized Carrero’s explanation that he had consumed alcohol and smoked marijuana that day, the AP reported.
Defense cited troubled background and remorse
Carrero’s defense lawyer, Jennifer Brown, asked for leniency and pointed to his background in court papers, according to the AP. Brown wrote that Carrero was born prematurely with drugs in his system and was abandoned at the hospital by his biological parents after his birth.
Brown also told the court that Carrero has intellectual challenges, the AP reported. She wrote that his life deteriorated after the pandemic began in 2020 and disrupted his ability to attend school.
In her filing, Brown said words could not adequately convey Carrero’s shame and remorse, according to the AP. The AP did not report any statement from the victim at sentencing.
The AP reported that the subway fire occurred during a period in which other attacks involving people being set on fire on public transit had drawn attention across the country.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.