Man confesses to arsons, gets six-year sentence

It was nearly 5 p.m. one day last August and Jonathan Roger Hein, reeking of gasoline, was waiting patiently at the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters on Smith Street.

He was there to turn himself in, he would soon explain to police officers, as he had lit a fire in the lobby of a provincial government office building on Donald Street a few minutes before.

Earlier that afternoon, his rental house on Pritchard Avenue blew up after he set another blaze.

Hein, 49, pleaded guilty to two counts of arson with disregard to life in front of provincial court Judge Dale Harvey on Tuesday for the bizarre crime spree that unfolded in the late afternoon on Aug. 29, 2025.

“It’s kind of shocking to hear of the decisions you made on that particular day,” Harvey told Hein, as he sentenced him to six years in prison, less time served, on a joint recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers.

Prosecutor Colin Soul outlined the facts of the case prior to Harvey issuing the sentence, telling court of Hein’s “strange and concerning behaviour” that day.

It began, Soul said, with Hein pouring gasoline from a jerry can “literally all over” his rented house at 241 Pritchard Ave. just after 2:40 p.m. He then lit a rag on a stick on fire to set the fuel ablaze.

“This results in an explosion that actually blows Mr. Hein out of the residence and sets a fire to the residence,” Soul said.

Hein fled as Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel raced to the scene to deal with the fire, which spread to a neighbouring house, tying crews up for several hours. Fire officials deemed Hein’s rental house a total loss and ordered it be demolished.

“That, however, shockingly doesn’t end Mr. Hein’s behaviour,” said Soul. “He then proceeds to a nearby convenience store, where he purchases more gasoline, fills up another portable fuel container and by 4:13 p.m. has attended to the Canada Building located at 352 Donald St.”

He poured gasoline on the lobby floor and lit it with a flaming rag on a stick, before running off. Numerous employees in the building were forced to flee the fire, which caused more than $10,000 in damage but did not injure anyone.

The building houses several provincial offices, including the government’s maintenance enforcement program, which administers child and spousal support payments.

Hein, who had been mentally unwell last summer, was upset with his high child support payments, after he lost his his job during the COVID-19 pandemic and fell behind. He was unable to secure a lawyer to assist him in getting the payments reduced and was destitute, defence lawyer Jeremy Kostiuk later explained.

“So, he sets his residence on fire, sets the Canada Building on fire, then at 4:36 p.m., perhaps in a moment of clarity, walks himself over to police headquarters at 245 Smith St. and advises members that he had set these fires,” Soul said.

It took the police officers at the station — who did not yet know of the fires — about 15 minutes to arrest Hein. He offered a full confession and was held in custody.

Kostiuk said Hein, who had a history of depression and excessive anger and a tendency to self destruct, had attempted to harm himself in July last year and spent a month in hospital.

“Then he gets out of hospital and doesn’t look like anything was better… he essentially describes the detonation of his house as an act of… self-annihilation. The whole episode, properly understood, was a sort of attempt at a suicide by cop, as it were,” said Kostiuk.

“The initial plan was just to keep going until he got himself gunned down… Fortunately, he kind of snapped out of it mid-episode, and… gave his head a shake and trudged on over to the police headquarters, still smelling of gasoline, and stood there patiently until the duty officers summoned someone to arrest him.”

Kostiuk said Hein has a significant degree of insight into what he did. He expects his client to seek mental health assistance and return to being a productive member of society once he’s let out of prison.

Harvey said the sentence will give him “more than enough time” to reflect on what he did “and realize it was a dumb thing to do.”

“(It was) a very dangerous thing to do as well,” said Harvey. “I’m sure you’ve realized that already, but there is a price to pay for what you’ve done.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca