Beaufort Co. judge sentences man to 15 years in prison for setting ex-girlfriend’s car on fire
A Beaufort man who set his girlfriend’s car on fire in 2019 pleaded guilty Tuesday and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to a press release from the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Anthony Best, 39, was charged in 2019 with two counts third-degree arson, court records show.
Best pleaded guilty in court Tuesday to the charges and said he was upset because the woman, his then-girlfriend, did not want to see him, officials said in the press release. Circuit Court Judge Carmen Mullen handed down the 15-year sentence, the maximum for third-degree arson, for both charges. Best will serve them concurrently.
The woman told police that her boyfriend of two months, identified as Best, confronted her earlier while she was in the car with her three children. The woman, who met Best on a dating app, refused to see him. While her children were in the bath an hour later, they noticed the smell of gasoline, according to the press release.
A security camera nearby caught a man going up to the woman’s door, leaving and then coming back into view. He is then seen going up to her car with a can of gasoline and failing to attempt to light the car on fire using a cigarette. He then uses paper towels to light the fire. The woman’s car and the one parked next to it were both damaged by the fire.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Best was still in custody at the detention center in Beaufort.
Best currently has three pending indecent exposure charges, two of which stem from an incident at a Beaufort Walmart in January in which multiple people, including two minors, reported Best exposed himself to them while they were in the store’s toy section. Best is a registered sex offender whose previous convictions include assault with the intent to commit first-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree burglary.
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 4:33 PM.
