Brewster Charged in LPS Fire

By: Kali Nicole
knicole@klkntv.com

Sharon Brewster was a teacher at Saratoga Elementary up until Monday morning. Now, she's the woman charged with burning down the LPS district office building and it wasn't the charge we were expecting to hear.  Originally, police said Brewster would see the highest charge of arson, but today in court, the charge was lowered and bond was set.

Court documents show a 44-year-old Sharon Brewster admitted to starting a fire on a supervisor's desk. She was originally facing charges of first degree arson but Wednesday in court, the charge was lowered to second degree arson.

County Attorney, Joe Kelly, explained, “First degree arson is a case where someone has intentionally set a fire to the building and they know that someone is in the building. We reviewed the reporter and came to the conclusion that the appropriate charge was for 2nd degree arson which is simply a case where somebody intently set fire to the building.”

Second degree arson holds a punishment of one to 20 years in prison, and a maximum of $25,000 fine. Brewster's attorney would not comment, though he did have one request.

“I would just ask everybody to remember that Ms. Brewster is entitled to be presumed innocent and she should be given that respect,” said Brewster's Attorney, Christopher Ferdico. He also says he'll be working to lower Brewster's bail that was set at $1 million, an amount the County Attorney says reflects the $20 million dollar damage done to the LPS district office building. Brewster will be back in court September 12th for her preliminary hearing.