A man accused of setting his house on fire in May to get help for his sick wife pleaded guilty to three charges Thursday in Wayne County Court.
Patrick Jesus O’Heren, 57, of Hawley pleaded guilty to two counts of recklessly endangering another person, a second-degree misdemeanor, and one count of arson/dangerous burning, a summary offense.
The day of the fire, O’Heren said his cat was playing with an outlet in a second floor bedroom at around 9:15 a.m. when the outlet sparked and caught the drapes on a nearby window on fire.
“I saw a lot of smoke and got my wife out quick,” O’Heren said at the time.
The fire was contained to the second floor bedroom, and by the time firefighters arrived on the scene, it had engulfed a chair and a bed.
According to court records, Russel Andress, deputy state police fire marshal for Troop D, was called to the scene to investigate the fire and determined that the fire was incendiary.
Andress and another trooper interviewed O’Heren at the scene, who told him he went to the second floor bedroom to get a pair of pants for his disabled wife, Mary, and one of his cats put its paw into an electrical outlet, causing it to spark, setting a basket of curtains on fire. Andress then told O’Heren this statement was unreasonable, and therefore not believable.
O’Heren then changed his story and told the troopers he had been caring for his wife for one-and-a-half years since she suffered a major setback with multiple sclerosis. He said he was desperate for help, so he dropped a lit match into the basket of curtains.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 19.
The News Eagle
