Yuma man pleads guilty to multiple charges including attempted arson

Isaac Meza accepts state's plea offer and avoids potential prison time

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - After almost avoiding any criminal arson charges earlier this year, 21-year-old Isaac Meza is set to be sentenced to probation next month on separate charges.

In Yuma County Superior Court on Tuesday morning, Meza pled guilty to one count of attempted arson and another count of possession of a dangerous drug including methamphetamine from a March incident.

By accepting the state's plea offer, Meza will most likely serve several years of probation instead of prison. If he pled not guilty and went to trial, he could have faced up to eight-and-a-half years for the attempted arson case.

Back in March, Yuma police were dispatched to a residential fire at a home in the 2100 block of South Madison Avenue.

When officers arrived, firefighters were already on scene working to extinguish the fire in a bedroom and were able to prevent it from spreading to other areas of the home.

At the scene, Meza was arrested and booked into Yuma County jail on charges of arson, criminal damage per domestic violence, aggravated assault per domestic violence, disorderly conduct per domestic violence and two drug charges involving methamphetamines.

All of these came with victim-related charges, but because the victim did not file former charges at the time, the conditions of release and significant bond had to be modified in court.

So instead, Meza was facing just two criminal drug charges.

That was until a month later when he was indicted again with multiple charges of arson of an occupied structure, criminal damage and aggravated assault.

In the plea agreement, Meza only had to plead guilty to one count of attempted arson and a drug charge on a separate charge - while dismissing the rest.

He will be back in court to learn his sentence in late August.