NC man gets 7 years for setting fire after protest

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — A North Carolina man was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in federal prison for setting a fire inside a Raleigh store following a demonstration over the death of George Floyd.

Richard Rubalcava, 27, pleaded guilty in March to setting a fire at a Dollar General Express store and vandalizing the Red Hat building with other rioters. Rubalcava was also ordered to pay $354,379.22 in restitution to Dollar General, news outlets reported.

Federal authorities said Rubalcava was arrested in June 2020 after a fire was set in a Dollar General Express that had been looted. Federal officials said that he’s captured entering the store numerous times before setting fire to “miscellaneous items located on an aisle endcap.”

The Dollar General Express was one of a number of downtown businesses that were looted in two nights of rioting that followed protests in the wake of Floyd’s 2020 death in Minnesota.