NYC teen gets 5 1/2 years for setting homeless man on fire on subway
What's new: The federal judge went six months above the arson minimum after prosecutors said the victim was left permanently scarred.
A Manhattan federal judge sentenced 19-year-old Hiram Carrero to 5 1/2 years in prison Tuesday after he admitted setting a sleeping homeless man on fire aboard a New York City subway train. Judge Lewis J. Liman imposed a term six months longer than the mandatory minimum for arson but below the eight years prosecutors sought. The attack happened early Dec. 1, 2025, on an uptown train after Carrero boarded at 34th Street-Penn Station. Prosecutors said the victim suffered critical burns, permanent scarring and disfigurement, and survived only because emergency crews reached him quickly after the train arrived at 42nd Street-Times Square.