Overview
- A 19-year-old, Hiram Carrero, was sentenced to 66 months in federal prison plus three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty to arson.
- Prosecutors say Carrero boarded a northbound No. 3 train at 34th Street–Penn Station and used a piece of paper to set a sleeping man on fire, leaving the victim trapped in the car as the train departed.
- The attack left the victim critically injured with permanent scarring and disfigurement, and prosecutors said the man survived only because first responders reached him quickly on arrival at Times Square.
- Investigators working with the New York Arson and Explosives Task Force identified Carrero by matching subway surveillance images with earlier police body‑camera footage, leading to his arrest and a guilty plea in March.
- Defense lawyers argued for leniency because of Carrero’s difficult early life and neurodevelopmental issues while prosecutors sought an attempted‑murder guideline sentence, making the judge’s decision a compromise that signals tougher federal handling of transit arson.