August 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
A McMinnville woman indicted almost three years ago for an arson entered a best interest plea in DeKalb County Criminal Court Monday to the lesser charge of reckless burning.
50-year-old Jan Winchester received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days all suspended to six months of supervised probation followed by six months of good behavior probation as long as there are no further issues. The amount of restitution is to be determined later.
The case was investigated by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and deputies with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department.
TBI agents were requested to join deputies with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and DeKalb County Fire Department in investigating a structure fire on April 14th, 2020 in the 200 block of Lee Homer Road in Smithville. During the course of the investigation, Agents developed information that identified Winchester as the individual responsible for setting the fire.
On November 16th, 2020 the DeKalb County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Winchester with one count of Arson.