A Wisconsin man was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison for setting fire to a Republican congressman’s office over the lawmaker’s vote to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell its U.S. operations.
Fond du Lac County Circuit Judge Tricia Walker sentenced Caiden Stachowicz, 20, of Menasha, to seven years in prison followed by seven years of extended supervision. Stachowicz pleaded no contest to an arson charge in November after prosecutors dropped burglary and property damage counts in exchange for the plea, which is not an admission of guilt but is treated as one for sentencing purposes, according to AP.
According to a criminal complaint, a police officer responding to a fire outside Rep. Glenn Grothman’s Fond du Lac office around 1 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2025 found Stachowicz standing nearby. Stachowicz told the officer he started the fire because he disliked Grothman. He had initially planned to break into the office and set the fire inside, but when he couldn’t break the window he poured gasoline on an electrical box behind the building and around the front, lit a match, and watched it burn.
Stachowicz told police he wanted to burn down the office because the federal government was shutting down TikTok in violation of his constitutional rights, that “peace was no longer an option,” and that Grothman had voted for the shutdown — though he said he did not want to hurt Grothman or anyone else.
Grothman voted in April 2024 for legislation requiring ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to divest its U.S. operations by Jan. 19, 2025. President Trump has since issued executive orders extending that deadline, and TikTok finalized a deal two months ago to create an American version of the platform. (RELATED: Trump’s Education Department Investigates Wisconsin School District Over Transgender Bathroom Policy)
Defense attorney Danielle Gorsuch told the Associated Press after sentencing that the incident was the result of a mental health crisis and that no one was harmed.
“Caden took every caution to make sure no one was present in the building at the time of the incident, as he only wanted to hurt himself,” Gorsuch said. “He took responsibility from night one.”
A spokesperson for Grothman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (RELATED: Wisconsin Democrats Reintroduce Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill)
