Tampa protester pleads guilty to arson charge
April 1, 2021 - A Tampa man who took part in last year’s protests over the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans at the hands of police officers has pled guilty to an arson charge. According to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, Terrance Hester Jr., 20, took part in a protest that devolved into a civil disturbance around midnight on May 31, 2020, at a shopping plaza located at 2301 E. Fowler Ave. in Tampa. A Champs Sports store was set ablaze and looted during the chaos, resulting in $1.25 million in damage to it and other businesses in the plaza. Video footage showed Hester throwing a flaming piece of cloth into the Champs Sports store; investigators determined that his actions caused or contributed to the fire. Hester faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in federal prison and could be incarcerated for up to 20 years.