The Brief
- The woman accused of starting a massive fire at a vacant Milwaukee warehouse will not serve jail time.
- Ellen Stevens, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of negligent handling of burning material.
- A judge sentenced her to 12 months of probation, 200 hours of community service, and she must pay $6,000 in restitution
MILWAUKEE – A woman trespassing in a vacant Milwaukee warehouse, charged in connection with a five-alarm fire that burned for hours and destroyed the property earlier this year, avoids jail time and is ordered to pay several thousand dollars in restitution.
Guilty plea
What we know:
Ellen Stevens, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of negligent handling of burning material. A judge sentenced Stevens to 12 months probation and ordered her to pay $6,000 in restitution.
On May 20, Stevens and three friends were trespassing in the former Greenbaum Tannery complex at 32nd and Hampton. Stevens says she flicked a cigarette butt through a hole in the roof. When the group was leaving, Stevens said they noticed a smoldering fire, thought they had stamped it out and then left.
About a half hour later, 911 calls started rolling in for reports of smoke and fire coming from the vacant four-story property, which was previously condemned and under a raze order since 2024. It took several days for the fire to be put out, and the property was considered a total loss.…