A Dunklin County man has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges that he set fire to a Malden auto-repair shop last year.

Louis E. Gamlin, 39, of Malden, also was ordered Tuesday in U.S. District Court to pay $44,000 in restitution in the March 2000 fire that destroyed Mike's Automotive.

Gamlin pleaded guilty in June to felony arson.

Gamlin has admitted that three days after the fire, he told an investigator he had talked with a man who admitted setting the blaze. Authorities later found that that supposed suspect was in jail the day of the fire, making Gamlin the investigation's focus.