Hiram Carrero Gets 5.5 Years for Setting Homeless Man on Fire on NYC Subway
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jun 24
Hiram Carrero Gets 5.5 Years for Setting Homeless Man on Fire on NYC Subway
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 24
Summary
A federal judge sentenced 19-year-old Hiram Carrero to 5.5 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in March to setting a sleeping homeless man on fire on a Manhattan subway train.
Prosecutors said the December 1, 2025 attack at 34th Street-Penn Station left the victim extensively scarred and disfigured, and that he likely would have died without first responders' rapid arrival.
Security footage showed Carrero igniting the fire and leaving the car as the train traveled more than two minutes to Times Square, where officers found the man on the platform with flames rising from his lap.
Judge Lewis J. Liman imposed a term six months above the mandatory minimum for arson but below the eight years sought by prosecutors, who called the crime 'separated from murder by mere chance.'
Defense lawyers cited neurodevelopmental impairment, abandonment at birth and heavy substance abuse in seeking leniency; the attack came about a year after another fatal subway burning in Brooklyn.