Iowa City man convicted for mobile home arson

An Iowa City man pleaded guilty and was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years in prison for setting a fire in a mobile home to scare his girlfriend in 2009.

Donald Truitt, 45, pleaded guilty to second-degree arson and two counts of animal abuse in Johnson County District Court. The terms were ordered to run consecutively, for a total of 14 years in prison.

Truitt was originally charged with first-degree arson.

According to police reports, Truitt put charcoal lighter fluid in the windows of the mobile home where he lived as a tenant with the owner, Mary Van Elsen, in July 18, 2009, in an attempt to scare his girlfriend, who also lived at the mobile home. There also were several cats belonging to Van Elsen in the home at the time.

According to a police report, Truitt left his girlfriend a note stating "If I can't have you, nobody will."