BENTONVILLE, ARK. ? A man who pleaded guilty to arson, burglary and theft told a judge he committed the crimes to keep a friend’s sons from inheriting anything after the friend’s death.

Randall Weicht, 34, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with five years suspended, by Benton County Circuit Judge Tom Keith after Weicht entered the guilty pleas Friday.

The charges stemmed from a burglary and arson of a house in May 1999.

“Myself and a friend went to the home of the deceased … with the intention of destroying the home and taking items that were there,” Weicht told the judge.

Weicht said he and his friend kicked in the door to the home.

“The home was entered, and items were loaded into a van. The house was destroyed, and a storage building was also destroyed in a fire,” Weicht said. “The house, I believe, was torched with gas.”

He and his friend put the stolen property in a storage building, Weicht said. Authorities have since recovered the property and provided it to the family of the dead man.

According to Weicht, the man who had died was a close friend and did not want his two adult sons to inherit anything from him.

Weicht has been in prison in Kansas for almost four years after a conviction in that state for aggravated assault, according to Chief Deputy Public Defender Kristin Pawlik.