Former Occupy activist gets 8 years for arson

A former Occupy Fort Collins protester has been sentenced to eight years in prison for burning down a building under construction in 2011.

Thirty-one-year-old Ben Gilmore was sentenced Thursday. The Coloradoan reports that Gilmore wept after the sentence was handed down.

Members of a large gallery who showed up to support the beekeeper put their heads in their hands, while Gilmore’s defense asked the judge to keep his client out of jail, pending an appeal of his conviction.

That request was denied, and Gilmore was handcuffed and led out of the Fort Collins courtroom.

Gilmore was an active member of the Occupy Fort Collins movement in October 2011 when the fire a block away caused more than $10 million in damage.