A former Milan woman pleaded no contest to one count of arson of insured property in a deal with prosecutors on charges stemming from the arson fire at her home last year.

Tifany Mapes, 20, was scheduled to go on trial today on multiple counts of arson and insurance fraud. She made the plea deal during a pre-trial hearing, court records show.

Prosecutors will drop those felony charges at sentencing Oct. 14 as part of the deal.

Mapes, who now lives in Dundee, also has a sentencing agreement with Circuit Judge David Swartz that will keep her out of prison, said her attorney, Rolland Sizemore.

“The risks involved in going to trial were too great and we have a certain outcome that hopefully, she can move on from,” said Sizemore, who added the conviction could be expunged from her record after five years.

Authorities charged Mapes earlier this year after Christopher Bandy, described by federal authorities as a serial pipe bomber, told investigators he set the blaze at Mapes’ request. The fire gutted the two-story home at 125 Hack St., and it remains vacant.

Witnesses at a May preliminary hearing testified Mapes received roughly $120,000 for the home, which she purchased with federal aid for $58,000 just three months earlier.

Bandy, Mapes' former lover, is serving eight years in federal prison for convictions on unrelated pipe bomb incidents in Whitmore Lake. Court records show local arson charges against Bandy are pending, but prosecutors acknowledged in May the case will be dismissed as part of his plea agreement in the federal case.

Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.