By Sarah Fulton
Morning Call
Copyright 2006 The Morning Call, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Jim Thorpe volunteer firefighter already in jail on arson charges was charged Monday with a dozen felony counts in two more arsons, including a devastating fire at a borough business this year that injured a firefighter, and with stealing money from the firehouse where he volunteered.
Police also said they are looking at claims by Christopher Karper, 19, of 23 E. Third St., that he lit the fires as an initiation into an alleged gang known by its graffiti tags as KOS, for Kids on Skateboards or Killers of Open Spaces. Members have marked vehicles and trash containers throughout Jim Thorpe with KOS, police said.
Karper was arraigned before District Judge Casimir Kosciolek in Lansford on charges he set fire to the Community Pharmacy in Jim Thorpe on Feb. 4 and a two-story garage behind a borough residence this month, and stole $110 from Fairview Hose Company in Jim Thorpe in September.
Kosciolek set bail at $250,000 cash and ordered Karper to undergo a mental evaluation and to follow its recommendations.
A 17-year-old Jim Thorpe boy also was charged with three counts of arson/endangering a person and other charges in the pharmacy case, according to Carbon County Chief Juvenile Probation Officer James Dodson.
In one week, Karper has been charged with involvement in four criminal cases. Karper is a Jim Thorpe Area High School senior and a bingo worker at the borough’s Memorial Hall who previously had no criminal record.
On Wednesday, he was charged with setting fire Dec. 5 to a hunting cabin at 1370 Germantown Road in the borough and jailed under $75,000 bail.
On Monday Karper was charged with two felony counts of arson/endangering persons and one felony count each of arson/endangering property, reckless burning or exploding, possession of explosive or incendiary materials or devices, causing or risking a catastrophe, criminal mischief and conspiracy to commit arson, and a summary count of simple trespass.
Those charges were related to the Feb. 4 blaze that destroyed the Community Pharmacy at 322 Center St. and an adjacent vacant apartment building and caused $500,000 in damage.
The 17-year-old was charged with one count each of reckless burning, possession of explosive or incendiary materials or devices, causing or risking a catastrophe, criminal mischief, simple trespass and conspiracy to commit arson in the Feb. 4 fire.
Dodson said a hearing will be held within 10 days for the juvenile.
An affidavit filed by Jim Thorpe Detective Joseph Schatz and state police fire investigator David Klitsch says the fire was set in the buildings’ common walkway using gasoline.
The affidavit says apartment owner Juan DeJesus saw youths hanging out behind his building earlier that day and told them to leave. Schatz and Klitsch say in the affidavit they interviewed Karper on Dec. 5 and he said he and the boy were the ones at DeJesus’s building, and they left and went across the street.
About 11 p.m., Karper told the boy “to go get gas, that they were going to set the building on fire,” the affidavit says.
Karper and the boy returned to the building, and the boy knocked on the door to make sure no one was there, then splashed gasoline down the rear stairs and onto the sidewalk. Karper poured gasoline behind the pharmacy, the affidavit says.
Karper said he lit the gas between the buildings with a match while the boy lit a trail of gasoline on the sidewalk with a match, according to the affidavit.
Firefighters from several companies responded, and while fighting the blaze, one firefighter was injured when part of a rear deck collapsed, causing him to fall. The firefighter was treated at Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital and released, police said.
Police say in the affidavit that Karper told them “he was a volunteer firefighter and that he was looking for action as well as initiation into the KOS gang.” Police said they are investigating whether the fires were part of an initiation.
Karper also was charged with one felony count each of arson/endangering persons, arson/endangering property, reckless burning or exploding, criminal mischief and one summary count of simple trespass in the Dec. 2 fire that damaged a two-story garage owned by Agnes Busocker behind 224 South St., Jim Thorpe.
An affidavit says Karper was called to the borough police station Dec. 5, where he waived his rights and told Schatz he started the garage fire with a lighter.
“It’s a black eye for all the firefighters in Jim Thorpe,” Schatz said Monday. “It’s a good group of guys — don’t let one person ruin it.”
Karper also was charged with stealing $110 from the Fairview Hose Company, where he volunteered as a firefighter. The affidavit says Karper told police he used bolt cutters to remove the lock on a filing cabinet and took $110 that he used for his car insurance.
A soft-spoken Karper on Monday would only give one-word answers to questions from reporters. Asked whether he was sorry, Karper said “yes,” and said “no” when asked whether the boy made him commit the crimes.