(Newsworthy.news) – Two fires started on the same night have led to arson charges and criminal mischief against Sean Gahagan, a 56-year-old man from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
After pleading guilty to arson in 2004, Gahagan was ordered to pay thousands of dollars in compensation for trying to burn down his neighbor’s house. In the owner’s absence, Gahagan gained access to his home through a side entrance and set fire to the 18th-century structure. Even though Traurig got home just in time to put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher, he could not stay in the house due to the extensive smoke damage it sustained.
At around 8:30 p.m. on December 29th, 2023, police from Lower Moreland were sent to a residence on Huntingdon Pike. At the back of the property, in a shed, two fires were set using the wood stacked inside: one on the floor and another close to the roofline. The responding officer heroically tamped down the blaze until firefighters arrived to extinguish it.
This property was the same house Gahagan tried to burn down twenty years prior.
Gahagan may not be aware of the old adage “revenge is a dish best served cold”—the motive for this fire was revenge for having to pay Traurig the compensation for the first fire.
Gahagan allegedly committed another arson on December 29th. According to the prosecution, Gahagan broke into JG Transmissions, his former employer, to rob it. He became frustrated and angry that the store didn’t have enough money to steal. So he did what Gahagan usually does: he set it on fire.
The charges against him included burglary, criminal mischief, risk of catastrophe, and associated offenses related to the arson.
Gahagan received a sentence of eleven months to one year and eleven months in prison after pleading guilty to the charge. He spent nearly 18 months in jail after twice violating his probation.
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