Brittney Rudolph

A Saxonburg woman charged with causing a house fire in February while cooking methamphetamine was sentenced Wednesday to state prison and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution to the homeowner and the owner's insurance company.

Brittney Rudolph, 34, was sentenced to 13½ months to 2½ years in prison followed by 36 months of state probation by President Judge Thomas Doerr. Doerr also ordered Rudolph to pay court costs and more than $364,000 in restitution. She was given credit for 154 days time-served.

Rudolph pleaded guilty July 9 to criminal trespass and conspiracy to operate a methamphetamine lab as part of a deal with prosecutors, after a fire Feb. 3 destroyed a home at 129 Germaine Road in Butler Township.

Rudolph was charged alongside William E. Burke, 38, of Winfield Township, after investigators said the pair broke into the home overnight and used a “one-pot” method to cook methamphetamine.

The drug lab caused a fire that destroyed the home. Police said several people, including the homeowner and her adult son, were inside when the blaze began. All were able to escape, police said, but four people, including Burke, who was badly burned, were taken to the hospital for treatment of various injuries.

Burke pleaded guilty June 26 to felony criminal trespass and operating a methamphetamine lab and was sentenced June 28 to 15 months to 2½ years in state prison followed by 30 months of probation.