Carol Field, Grandmother, Pleads Guilty To Setting 18 Fires Across Maine

A 66-year-old grandmother has pleaded guilty to setting 18 fires across southern Maine.

Her motive? No one paid enough attention to her, according to the Daily Mail.

Carol Field, a former nurse from Standish, admitted in court on Thursday to starting blazes in several different locations, including abandoned buildings, a barn and a 177-year-old historic church, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Damage to the Raymond Hill Baptist Church sustained in July 2011 was valued at over $200,000. No one was injured in any of the infernos.

"She spent her life as a caregiver here, so it's pretty hard for me to believe she would ever have any intent to harm anyone," attorney J.P. DeGrinney said when Fields was arrested in September 2011.

The fires, which began in 2010, may have been a cry for attention.

"She stated all her life she cared for everyone else and nobody cared about her or paid attention to her," Cumberland County Assistant District Attorney Angela Cannon said.

Police apprehended Fields after a witness spotted her car leaving the scene of one of the fires and provided cops with her license plate number.

Following her arrest, Fields was given a psychiatric evaluation at the Riverview Psychiatric Center. She was diagnosed as suffering from anxiety and depression, Superior Court Justice Roland Cole said during the court proceeding.

Her previous criminal record includes convictions for shoplifting groceries, providing a minor with alcohol and impersonating a police officer, more than 30 years ago.

Field, who has pleaded guilty to six counts of arson, is likely to serve two years in prison, the Associated Press reports.