Narvon firefighter, 18, accused of setting, then helping to fight, fire that damaged West Earl school. More charges to come.
By Tom Murse
Lancaster New Era
Copyright 2007 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
LANCASTER, Pa. — At first, Dustin Shane Gerth seemed to be a real Johnny on the spot.
The 18-year-old volunteer fireman told police he just happened to be cruising by a one-room schoolhouse near Ephrata at 3:10 Saturday morning when he spotted a fire inside.
Gerth, the story went, told one of his pals in the car to dial 911 as he drove frantically to the Farmersville Fire Department, heroically jumped aboard a fire engine and rushed back to the scene to fight the blaze.
Police, however, aren’t buying that version.
Authorities in West Earl Township have charged Gerth, of 210 Patchwork Lane in Narvon, with breaking into the Pleasant Valley School and starting the fire, which caused $20,000 in damage.
They are weighing similar charges against two juveniles who allegedly helped him.
In addition, police in New Holland said they plan to file charges against Gerth for a burglary and vandalism that same night at another one-room schoolhouse not far away, as well as a March arson there.
Gerth’s alleged involvement in the Saturday fire, battled by 60 firefighters from three departments, stunned his fellow volunteers.
“We’re certainly shocked, yes. Nothing like that’s ever happened to our fire department,” said Farmersville fire Chief Jonas Reiff.
He declined to comment extensively but said Gerth had been a member of the department for only about three or four months. The chiefs of both the West Earl and Akron fire departments, which assisted, declined to comment.
West Earl Police Chief Brian Brandt said he didn’t want to speculate about why Gerth allegedly set the fire, but did say the volunteer isn’t representative of the Farmersville crew.
“They are one great outfit. They are a very professional department. I know this is devastating to them,” Brandt said. “This guy was not a true representative of this fire company.”
Police charged Gerth on Tuesday with one count each of arson, burglary, criminal conspiracy, institutional vandalism, and corruption of the morals of a minor because he allegedly committed the crimes with two minors.
Gerth was arraigned Tuesday before Magisterial District Judge Rodney Hartman in New Holland and committed to Lancaster County Prison after he failed to post $200,000 bail.
Police charged Gerth after he confessed, during a Monday interview with West Earl Detective Dawn M. Ray, to breaking into the school with the two juveniles and setting the fire, according to the criminal complaint.
When he responded to the fire with his fellow volunteers, Gerth told a police officer he was driving by the Pleasant Valley School when he noticed the fire.
The school, at 387 Pleasant Valley Road in West Earl Township, about 2 miles south of Ephrata, is attended by Amish and Old Order Mennonite children.
Firefighters arrived to find flames burning out through a window, which they believed had been broken. The fire, which was put out within 15 minutes, damaged a window, part of a wall and the ceiling, but did not collapse any portion of the roof or walls.
Officer Dale E. Ebersole Jr. found evidence that the burglar broke a rear window and entered the school, according to the criminal complaint.
After an investigation, Deputy State Police Fire Marshal James DeWalt ruled the fire an arson. He said there were no signs of additional vandalism and nothing appeared to have been taken from the schoolhouse.
Gerth was one of about 15 or 20 members of the Farmersville Fire Department to respond to the fire, the chief said. The station is 2 miles from the school.
New Holland Police Chief John Yost said today that his department plans to file charges against Gerth related to a burglary and minor vandalism at the one-room Lincoln Mennonite School, at 152 Sensenig Road in Earl Township, the same night.
And they are also going to charge Gerth in two March 11 incidents - one at Lincoln and the other Centerville Mennonite Church, also in the 100 block of Sensenig Road.
According to newspaper records, one or more burglars broke into the rural one-room schoolhouse north of New Holland and set a fire that night. Desks were overturned and windows broken, police said.
“The fire did not spread, and there was very little damage to the school,’' a police investigator said at the time.
At the church, the vandals broke four windows.
“I don’t know the specific charges, but he’s definitely going to be charged in those incidents,” Yost said today.