Scott Phelan, accused of helping set fire to the home where missing woman Sabrina Hatheway was last seen, given credit for time served

June 01--Scott Phelan, one of three men accused of setting fire to a Worcester home that a missing woman was staying in, has been given credit for nearly two years served in jail and will be released.

Phelan and co-defendant Lionel Bermudez pleaded guilty in March 2017 to charges of arson of a dwelling and conspiracy in connection with the New Year's Day 2015 fire that destroyed the home at 11 Dixfield Road.

The residence was where Sabrina Hatheway was living with her boyfriend, Kevin Crozier, when she went missing more than three years ago.

Phelan and Bermudez are accused of helping Crozier set the Jan. 1, 2015, fire the home, which was owned by Crozier's family.

Hatheway, 23, hasn't been seen since December 2014.

During Phelan's sentencing in Worcester Superior Court Friday, his attorney, Robert Iacovelli, said Phelan has served 714 days in jail and that there was a previous agreement that he would serve two years to two years and a day.

Iacovelli said he did not want to see his client go back for two weeks to finish that sentence.

"He's been doing wonderful he's been clean and sober for quite a while now, he's been working, I don't want to see him go back into custody for two weeks," Iacovelli said.

Judge Shannon Frison agreed to give Phelan credit for time served.

"I'm not going to enforce that agreement such that you would go to jail for 16 days, I'm going to go against the Commonwealth's recommendation and impose a sentence for 714 days in the House of Correction deemed served so that the matter ends today," she said.

On Thursday, Bermudez was also given credit for the 790 days he served and released from custody, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported.

Last week, Crozier, 31, pleaded guilty to charges of arson and conspiracy. He was sentenced to serve no less than six years and no more than six years and a day in prison and will receive credit for 38 months served.

Prosecutor Christopher Hodgens says that despite accusations that Crozier had two men set fire to his family's 11 Dixfield Road home in Worcester so he could collect insurance money, there was a more sinister reason for the blaze.

"The evidence suggests that the motive for this fire was not insurance money, that the true motive was to cover up evidence in connection with missing person Sabrina Hatheway," Hodgens said in Worcester Superior Court as Crozier pleaded guilty and was sentenced.

Hodgens said the home was not insured, but that Crozier asked Phelan and Bermudez to burn down the home, saying he would pay them.

Crozier's defense attorney, Kevin Larson, said Hatheway had nothing to do with the fire and that Crozier has no involvement with the woman's disappearance.

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