30-year-old Tien Ming Chen of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was sentenced to federal prison in court by U.S. District Judge David Nuffer.
Chen pleaded guilty in March to one count of interstate travel to commit a crime of violence and one count of use of fire to commit a felony.
Chen admitted that on about July 19-20, 2011, he traveled from Vancouver, BC, Canada, to Utah with the intent of igniting a Molotov cocktail and intentionally damaging a Cedar Hills home.
He was later arrested at the Salt Lake International Airport.
The FBI says Tien Ming Chen, a Taiwan native who lives in Canada, was arrested at a car rental company at the airport. He was arrested by Salt Lake City airport police who were working in conjunction with the FBI.
The FBI says Chen threw the fire bombs at the home in the early morning hours on July 20.
According to police, someone threw three Molotov cocktails at the home where the residents were sleeping.
Officials said that three glass bottles filled with gasoline were thrown at the home.
According to police, two of the bottles spilled gas on the porch while another bottle was thrown inside the home, but did not ignite.
The house was damaged but the resident was able to put out the flames.
The FBI say the arson was was not a random act of violence.
A probable cause statement says that Chen had traveled several times from Vancouver to Utah, attempting to collect a debt from a resident of Alpine or Cedar Hills.
Since April of 2011, the FBI say Chen left threatening messages at the doorstep of person or persons he thought owed him money, leading up to the Molotov cocktail attack.
The FBI report also said that Chen may have left threatening messages at the wrong home during one of those trips to Utah.
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