Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Arson in Willowbrook

Photo: Galvin Harris, via the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office.

A Broadview man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after prosecutors say he started a fire in front of his sister’s apartment in unincorporated Willowbrook.

Galvin Harris, age 33, was charged and found guilty of aggravated arson and disorderly conduct after a three-day jury trail, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Tri-State Fire Department personnel answered a call around 3 a.m. Dec. 21, 2014, for reports of smoke coming from the second floor of Hinsdale Lakes Terrace Apartments. A cardboard box full of mailing flyers was smoldering in front of Harris’ sister’s apartment, the state’s attorney’s office reports.

One of the building’s residents had extinguished the fire, and smoke damaged the hallway and burned the carpet.

DuPage County Sheriff’s Office and the DuPage County Arson Task Force discovered Harris and his sister had argued that day, and police asked Harris to leave the apartment. Investigators concluded that Harris returned to the apartment, slashed the tires of his sister’s car and set the fire in front of her door, the state’s attorney’s office reports.

No one was injured in the fire.

Harris was sentenced to 12 years for aggravated arson and four years for disorderly conduct, to be served concurrently. He must serve half of his sentence before he would be eligible for parole.