Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ALEXANDRIA, Va. –Jonathan Ernesto Godoy, 26, of Fredrick, Maryland, was sentenced today to 190 months in prison for his involvement in two firebombings of the Loudoun County Department of Community Corrections building.

Godoy pleaded guilty on Nov. 9, 2015, to arson affecting interstate commerce and using fire or an explosive device in the commission of a federal felony.  According to court documents and court proceedings, in the fall of 2012, Godoy was on supervised probation in Loudoun County stemming from a possession of narcotics charges.  In danger of violating his conditions of probation due to missed appointments, adulterated urine samples, and positive drug tests, Godoy, along with a co-conspirator, made two destructive devices using glass bottles, gasoline, and scraps of cotton t-shirt, commonly known as “Molotov cocktails,” and attempted to throw both devices into Godoy’s probation officer’s window. At least one of the devices exploded inside of the Loudoun County Department of Corrections building and caused severe fire damage.  The fire, which occurred during the early morning hours of Nov. 14, 2012, caused such destruction that the occupants of the building had to move to an alternate location.  The fire caused over $300,000 in property damage and relocation costs.

In July 2014, Godoy was served with four felony state warrants related to the fire at the probation office, and he was incarcerated at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.  While there, in a series of telephone calls and letters, Godoy expressed his belief that if his friend and a Loudoun County Assistant Fire Marshal, who was involved in the investigation, were eliminated as witnesses, then the criminal case against him would collapse.  Thereafter, Godoy solicited a fellow inmate to murder the two.  Unbeknownst to Godoy, however, the fellow inmate was cooperating with law enforcement and kept them informed of Godoy’s plot.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Linda Hale, Chief Fire Marshal, Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Management; and Michael F. Boxler, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael E. Rich and William M. Sloan prosecuted the case.