Crime & Safety
Suspect in Salty Nut Arson Pleads Guilty
Theodore Walter Podewil IV, 23, to 15 years in prison but will only have to serve seven years and he must attend a treatment facility for alcohol, drug and mental health issues.
A Columbia man who is accused of the 2012 firebombing of Salty Nut Cafe, a restaurant and bar in Five Points, pleaded guilty Thursday, according to a report from The State.
A judge sentenced Theodore Walter Podewil IV, 23, to 15 years in prison during a hearing at the Richland County Courthouse.
Podewil, who was an Honors College student at the University of South Carolina, will only have to serve seven of the 15 years in prison and he must enter a treatment facility for alcohol, drug and mental health issues, according to the report.
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He will also have to be on probation for five years.
Podewil was accused of throwing a Molotov coctail into a window at Salty Nut, causing about $300,000 in damages, the report said.
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Salty Nut reopened in September 2012.
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