29 year-old Nicholas L. Steele of Taylorville plead guilty to arson, a Class 2 felony and attempted escape, which is a Class 3 felony at the Christian County Courthouse on Tuesday afternoon. For the arson charge, Steele was sentenced to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, followed by two years of mandatory supervised release with credit of time served of 301 days. He was held on $500,000 cash bond in the case. Steele was accused of setting fire to his ex-wife’s garage in May of 2015.

As for the attempted escape charge, he was sentenced to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, followed by one year of mandatory supervised release and no credit for time served. The sentence will run consecutively with the sentence he received from the arson charge. Steele was accused of attempting to escape from the Christian County jail in June 2015 along with then 25 year-old Brandon J. Gardner of Kincaid.

Steele was represented by Defense Attorney, Monroe D. McWard. The Class 3 felony charge of intimidation was dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.