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Left inset: Joseph Green (Oakland County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Footage posted on Facebook Live showing Adrian Trimble being attacked while he sleeps (WJBK). Background: Adrian Trimble speaking about the fire “prank” that was unleashed on him by Joseph Green (WJBK).
A Michigan resident has received a prison sentence for a shocking act where he set another individual on fire during their sleep and broadcasted the incident on Facebook Live, referring to it as a “prank gone wrong.”
In his victim impact statement during Joseph Green’s sentencing, Adrian Trimble shared his harrowing experience, saying, “I had an inferno on my back, basically,” as reported by local Fox affiliate WJBK. He added, “I was burnt everywhere.”
Joseph Green was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Oakland County Circuit Judge Nanci Grant after he entered a no-contest plea to charges stemming from the incident. These charges included assault with intent to cause great bodily harm and arson resulting in personal property damage.
Before delivering the sentence, Judge Grant expressed her disapproval of Green’s actions, labeling the fire incident as a misguided “prank.”
“I’m not calling you stupid, but that’s a really stupid action,” Judge Grant remarked, according to WJBK.
The tongue-lashing came in response to Green’s claim during his chance to speak at his sentencing that his attack on Trimble was “just a prank gone wrong.”
Prosecutors say Green lit pieces of paper towels on fire and threw them on Trimble after he fell asleep at his home. He also allegedly tried to set Trimble’s “rear end” on fire, according to the victim’s family.
Trimble told authorities that he kept trying to brush off the burning pieces before eventually waking up engulfed in flames.
“He was just taking a lighter and burning and burning various places in the room,” Trimble’s daughter, Ayana Trimble, said in court back in May, according to MLive.com. “He took a lighter and burned my dad’s rear end. He burnt his rear end with a lighter.”
Doctors hospitalized Trimble, who underwent three surgeries as a result of his injuries. He reportedly has epilepsy and suffered multiple seizures after the attack.
A GoFundMe launched by Ayana Trimble claims Green let Trimble suffer for “almost 12 hours” before police and paramedics were called. It says “many people” were at the residence where the fire attack took place and were “recording, laughing, and not stopping the vicious acts” being committed by Green.
“Instead, they encouraged it,” Ayana Trimble says in the description. “Videos were sent to me of my father being tortured, trying to leave, being knocked down, set on fire, and beaten. No one helped him.”