By Amanda Christman
Standard-Speaker
HAZELTON, Pa. — A Hazleton man is in jail after throwing a Molotov cocktail at a woman’s home in the city early Wednesday morning while she slept in her bedroom, police say.
City police apprehended Gary R. Smith, 58, of West Sixth Street, not far from the crime scene after witnesses followed him around midnight.
Smith faces two counts of arson and one count each reckless burning and possession of incendiary materials, all felonies, and a misdemeanor for owning an incendiary device.
He was arraigned Wednesday morning by Magisterial District Judge Thomas Malloy, Wilkes-Barre, and taken to the Luzerne County prison when unable to post $75,000 bail.
Arrest papers state neighbors in the area of 18th and Locust streets heard glass break and upon looking outside saw the victim’s porch on fire and Smith in the area. One neighbor alerted the homeowner to the fire at her front porch banister while two others extinguished the flames as Smith fled. Witnesses also called 911 for help.
One of the neighbors and a passerby who was in a vehicle in the neighborhood followed Smith as he left the area on foot to the area of 21st Street and Hanover Court, where officers apprehended him after the witnesses pointed him out, according to court records.
An officer was en route to the fire when one of the men flagged him down, pointing to Hanover Court, where the officer found a man matching the description of the man seen fleeing the house fire.
Smith told officers he didn’t do it when they arrived in the area as he was walking on Hanover Court, court papers state.
Police found a broken bottle at the front door of the home and could smell gasoline.
They also found a charred area of the banister with the outline of a bottle on it, court papers state, and a small yellow sponge near the banister that also was charred.
Upon tracing the route Smith took as he fled from the Locust Street house, officers found a pair of gloves that smelled of gasoline on Penn Court between 20th and 21st streets.
Hazleton Fire Chief Donald Leshko said the fire was extinguished when firefighters arrived at the home.
The victim, who declined to provide her name for safety reasons, said she awoke to a female neighbor calling her and upon learning what happened thanked God for the vigilance of her neighbors and for the passerby who helped track the alleged arsonist down.
Had the neighbors not heard the glass break, she said, it could have destroyed the house with her inside.
“I truly have the best neighbors,” she said.
The homeowner said she doesn’t know Smith or why he tried to set her home on fire.
Copyright 2016 the Standard-Speaker