By Stephanie Weaver
The Reading Eagle
FLEETWOOD, Pa. — A former probationary firefighter with the Fleetwood Fire Company admitted that he started three fires in the borough and surrounding communities, including one that destroyed a barn.
Cody L. Weidner, 20, of the 100 block of North Walnut Street, Fleetwood, was originally scheduled to have a pretrial hearing Monday. Instead, he opted to plead guilty to three counts of arson and one county of reckless endangerment before Judge Patrick T. Barrett.
Sentencing was set for August to allow restitution to be worked out and to give victims an opportunity to speak to Barrett about the case.
Assistant District Attorney Daniel P. Troy said Weidner admitted he set fire to a shed Jan. 2 in the 600 block of Baldy Road in Maxatawny Township, started a fire Jan. 1 at a garage along Wintergreen Alley in Fleetwood and torched a vacant house Aug. 8 in the first block of West Washington Street.
The fires were among 12 arsons in the Fleetwood area during a five-month period. Weidner has not been charged in the other fires, many of which failed to ignite or significantly damage property.
Beyond answering Troy’s questions, Weidner did not speak much during Monday’s plea proceeding.
Troy said afterward that Weidner had previously told investigators he started the fires because he wanted to feel good about helping others out.
Police identified Weidner as the arsonist after investigators learned he had been on duty with the Fleetwood Fire Company for two of the fires and after investigating several other arsons that are still unsolved. Police said witnesses, surveillance and other investigative efforts also linked Weidner to the arsons.
Other police departments and fire companies and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were involved in the investigation.
Detectives said they learned that Weidner spoke with the owner of the Baldy Road property, Lester Hoover, about 7:30 the night of the fire about allowing the fire company to burn a building on Hoover’s property for a training exercise.
As they parted, Weidner said the next time Hoover would see him, he would be in his firefighting gear, police said.
Just before 8 p.m., a shed on the property was engulfed in flames, which spread to a nearby barn. The two-alarm fire destroyed the shed and a tractor inside.
Fleetwood Fire Company Chief John Manmiller previously said Weidner passed a mandatory background check before becoming a member of the department and participated in training but wasn’t certified to go inside buildings as an interior firefighter.
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