LEWISTOWN, Pa. — A Mifflin County man is facing arson, insurance fraud and related charges after State Police claim he deliberately set two tractor trailer trucks on fire in an effort to claim insurance money.
Arthur St. Clair, 30, is also charged with reckless burning or exploding and risking a catastrophe, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by Trooper Stephen Griffith, who works with the Troop G Fire Marshal Unit.
Authorities began investigating St. Clair when two trucks he owned, a 1993 Peterbilt truck/trailer and a 1981 Peterbilt truck/trailer, were found damaged by fire while parked in a lot on the 200 block of Washington Avenue in Lewistown on the morning of Jan. 20.
According to Griffith, who was assigned to investigate the case, both trucks were damaged by fires that were deliberately set.
Griffith's examination of the 1993 Peterbilt truck determined the fire originated in the sleeper cab, and that all reasonable accidental ignition sources were eliminated. The fire could have only been deliberately set, according to Griffith, who said the incendiary material used to start the fire was a pair of plastic oil jugs that had been placed near a heater in the sleeper compartment.
The second Peterbilt truck was also damaged by a fire that was deliberately set, according to Griffith's examination. The incendiary material was found to be a pile of paper-like materials set on a floor mat in the cab's sleeper compartment, Griffith claimed.
Investigators also observed surveillance video taken from two locations near the property that showed the only person near the trucks prior to the fires being reported was their owner, St. Clair, who claimed he was at the parking lot that day to make sure one of his trucks was still operable because he was about to sell it, according to the complaint.
Surveillance video shows St. Clair entering both tractor trailer trucks about 15 minutes before leaving the scene. When he returned, he entered one of the trucks a second time, just before calling authorities to report a fire at about 9:30 a.m. There is no smoke or evidence of a fire seen on video until 9:33, according to Griffith.
Investigators also found St. Clair owed a "large sum of money" to multiple garages and individuals, and that he attempted to submit an insurance claim for $225,000 for the damage to his trucks, according to police.
