WACO, Texas — A jury has found 42-year-old Bryan Andrew Bruce guilty of arson, a second degree felony, in less than an hour of deliberation.
The McLennan County District Attorney's Office said Bruce has received the maximum sentence of 20 years.
Bruce was charged by prosecutors for his involvement in a series of fires in 2020 on his father's property on Speegleville Road in McLennan County.
Volunteer firefighters responded to an uncontrolled grass fire in October 2020 where prosecutors said Bruce was combative towards the firefighters as they were extinguishing the flames. When the fire was put out and the firefighters left, prosecutors said a concerned neighbor called emergency services to report a new fire encroaching on the caller's property.
Firefighters returned an hour later after they put out the first fire.
Prosecutors said Bruce interfered with firefighters during the second fire by riding a motorcycle in between firetrucks and yelling obscenities at them.
Deputies from the McLennan County Sheriff's Office later arrested Bruce for Interference with Public Duties and Resisting Arrest.
Prosecutors said Bruce set more fires the following month on Nov. 3 and Nov. 17. They said during Nov. 3 incident, the fire destroyed a garage on Bruce's property.
In the trial's punishment phase, the prosecution showed evidence of threatening behavior from Bruce while he was on bond—including a recording of a February 2023 court hearing in which Bruce held a gun to a cat's head while appearing over Zoom.
A manager from George's restaurant in Hewitt also provided a testimony in the prosecution's case, saying that in January 2023 Bruce was seen by patrons pulling a gun on another man seated several tables away.
Video surveillance at the restaurant captured the incident and prosecutors showed it to the jury. In a separate case on this incident, Bruce pled guilty to a Deadly Conduct charge and received a 300 day sentence in jail.
Further testimonies from Bruce's families described him having problems with drugs and isolation. They also testified that Bruce refused to seek help for these problems, or listen to their advice to accept an initial prosecution plea bargain of probation—which would have required him to seek drug and mental health treatment.
Assistant District Attorneys Vanessa Fuentes and Kristen Duron prosecuted this case.
