SPRING GROVE, Pa. — Police have charged a Spring Grove woman with setting multiple fires outside the home of the York County borough's mayor for the second time this summer.
Diane Louise Oberdick, 69, of the first block of South Water Street, is charged with multiple counts of felony arson, a felony count of risking a catastrophe, and misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief, recklessly endangering another person, and disorderly conduct, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed Monday by York County Regional Police.
According to police, Oberdick set three fires outside the home of Spring Grove mayor Beverly Hilt Monday morning.
Hilt was not home at the time, police said.
The fires were set in an alley behind Hilt's South Water Street home, on the side porch of the home against a screen door, and in a breezeway between Hilt's home and the home of a neighbor, underneath the home's gas meter, according to police.
The fires were discovered and put out at approximately 7:39 a.m., police said. They caused damage to a garage door in the alley, to the screen door and siding of the home's side porch, and to the gas meter and siding in the breezeway, according to police.
The Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal was dispatched to the scene and determined the fires had been deliberately set, police said.
Hilt's neighbors allegedly told police about an ongoing dispute between Hilt and Oberdick, who allegedly blamed the mayor for the lack of trash pick-up service at her home, which is located down the block from Hilt's residence.
Hilt had previously been arrested in June for setting three other fires near the mayor's home, according to police. She also allegedly left a note on Hilt's vehicle that told her to "move to Florida," the neighbors reported.
One of Hilt's neighbors had a security camera system installed outside her home and reviewed surveillance footage from Monday morning, according to police. The footage depicted a figure entering the backyard of Hilt's home, carrying two large garbage bags. The person walked up the yard toward the residence off-camera, and is later seen leaving through the backyard empty-handed, police said.
The neighbor identified the person on surveillance footage as Oberdick, and allowed police to collect the footage as evidence, according to the complaint.
Hilt later told investigators that in June, when Oberdick was previously arrested, there had been two oxygen tanks placed against the electric meter in her backyard. Oberdick had also been dumping her trash at the door of Hilt's detached garage in July, Hilt told police.
