Serial arsonist who targeted B.C. restaurants sentenced to five-plus years in prison

BURNABY, B.C. — An arsonist who caused more than half a million dollars in damages when he set fire to two Metro Vancouver restaurants has been sentenced to more than five years in prison.

RCMP in Burnaby, B.C., say a court also sentenced Steven Sorenson last month to serve three years’ probation after his release. 

Sorenson, who is 50 years old, was convicted by a B.C. Supreme Court judge in November for setting three fires, two of them in April 2020 targeting a Korean restaurant and a sushi restaurant in Burnaby.  

Police say the fires caused extensive damage and officers from the RCMP’s economic crime unit reviewed hundreds of hours of surveillance video to identify the suspect in a “difficult and painstaking” investigation.

Sorenson set a third fire on Nov. 6, 2020, to the same sushi restaurant he attacked months earlier, and police arrested and charged the man a week later.

Police estimate the three fires caused more than $550,000 in damages.  

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2023.

The Canadian Press