FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – An 80-year-old Churubusco man who once lit multiple vehicles on fire at used car lots and threw the battery to his ankle monitor into a microwave while serving time at community corrections received 15 years in prison on a probation violation earlier this week.

Dewey Frederick was serving a sentence at Allen Community Corrections as part of a plea agreement where he admitted to setting fire to four vehicles at two area O’Daniel lots last year.

Those fires led to Frederick being convicted on four counts of arson and a given 15-year sentence, though he was to only serve three at community corrections and then finish with 12 years of probation.

One day this past June while at the community corrections facility, he broke his GPS ankle monitor and put its battery pack in a microwave, according to court documents.

That parked a new arson arrest. It also provided grounds for his sentence and probation for the previous arsons to be revoked.

“I would have done anything to get out of here,” he said when questioned by investigators about the incident, according to court documents. “It could have gotten a lot worse.”

An Allen Superior Court judge sentenced Frederick earlier this week to prison time.

Previously, Frederick said he set fires to the vehicles at the O’Daniel lots – he torched two jeeps, an GMC Acadia and Pontiac Solstice convertible – over being sold a lemon back in the 1980s, according to court documents.

“It was time for the chickens to return to roost,” Fredrick told investigators at the time.

At his sentencing this week, he was given 101 days time served for time spent in Allen County Jail.