Criminal defense for arsonist
Criminal defense for arson cases takes a trusted, experienced attorney who will fight for your best interests and use his or her skills in the courtroom to save suspects from being unfairly judged. This past Wednesday, a 62-year-old Latrobe man asked his 31-year-old neighbor to help him move and connect a new television set he had recently purchased. The 62-year-old man told officials that he never got to watch that television because about 6 a.m. the following morning, a fire displaced him from his 509 Main Street apartment. The man told reporters that he immediately called 911 then went upstairs to his aforementioned neighbor’s apartment where the two found a fire coming from both ends of a closet door and so they ran from the home. The 62-year-old man sat and watched in awe as his new TV and every possession he owned burned to the ground. Hours later, while the fire still burned, that 31-year-old neighbor confessed to setting. He cited the $16,200 in renters insurance he would collect as his motivation. The suspect told police that he wrecked his car Wednesday morning and didn’t have the money to get it fixed because his only income is $755 in government benefits, so he resorted to arson to defraud his renter’s insurance company and make the money that way. He was arrested on two counts of arson and one count of possession of explosive and incendiary materials. Police say the suspect used cologne as an accelerant to light paper, clothing, and books on fire in his closet. The suspect apparently used crumpled up pieces of paper, used a grill lighter to light it, and used books and clothes as the pyre. He admitted to waiting a few minutes until the fire got going before he decided to alert all of the tenants. No one was hurt in the fire, but tenants lost everything. The American Red Cross is helping the victims. It is estimated the loss totals more than $300,000. The suspect was unable to post $35,000 cash bond and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for 8 June in front of Unity District Judge Michael Mahady. Judge Mahady will likely consider the young man’s past if he is found guilty. In 2013, he was sentenced to serve 4-23 months in county lock-up for criminal mischief, simple assault, public drunkenness, and harassment. And just in the last two weeks, he was arrested for DUI, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, trespassing, and public drunkenness. The arrests in the last two weeks took place on three separate occasions. Source: TribLive.com, “Tenant charged in fire that destroyed Latrobe apartment house” 27 May 2015
