Former OU employee sentenced for role in fire

Tuesday, October 18th 2005, 3:15 pm

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ A former employee of a University of Oklahoma weather program was given a five-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay restitution in connection with a 2001 warehouse fire that destroyed a National Severe Storm Laboratory building in Norman.

Dan Major, 47, entered an Alford plea Monday in Cleveland County District Court to a charge of second-degree arson. By entering an Alford plea, the defendant does not admit guilt but concedes the evidence against him likely would cause a jury to convict him.

Major also was ordered to pay up to $100,000 in restitution.

The July 3, 2001, fire destroyed nearly $2 million worth of weather equipment owned by the National Severe Storms Laboratory, the University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University.

Prosecutors said Major was involved in work to outfit a sport-utility vehicle with weather equipment and became upset when officials at Texas A&M rejected the work and asked for further modifications.