Truck driver who “maliciously” set fire to Swift trailers sentenced to 10 years in prison

A truck driver convicted of “maliciously” setting fires to several Swift Transportation trailers has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for the crime.

Viorel Pricop, 66, was convicted of six counts of arson of vehicle or property in interstate commerce on March 12 after setting fire to six trailers at five different locations in San Bernardino and Riverside, California between December 2021 and September 2022. Pricop was sentenced to 10 years and 1 month in prison on Friday, June 7. Pricop was also ordered to pay nearly $650,000 in restitution as part of his sentence.

In addition to the burning trailers cited in his sentencing, Pricop burned at least 18 other Swift trailers from California to Alabama, primarily along Interstates 10 and 40. He faces additional charges in New Mexico and Arizona , KTLA reported.

In 2018, Pricop was previously convicted of stealing items from Swift trailers after being tracked via a “bait trailer” loaded with electronics.

“Swift investigators traced these boxes to a storage facility in Michigan, and local Michigan law enforcement arrested Pricop in possession of the boxes of electronics from the bait trailer,” a statement said regarding flights.

Pricop was sentenced to 26 months in prison for these thefts, but was released on supervision “in June 2019, approximately a year before the arsons in this case began.”

“This defendant was offered a second chance, but he chose to pass it up and embark on a national campaign of revenge,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada. “By burning trailer after trailer with the drivers inside the trucks, he recklessly put people’s lives at risk. Violent repeat offenders like this defendant will only be deterred with consequences and that is exactly what the sentence imposed today does.