Police investigate arson at York church office
Daily Record/Sunday News
Federal, state and city fire investigators are looking into a York church fire caused by an arsonist, according York Fire Chief Steve Buffington.
Just after 9 a.m. Monday, firefighters were dispatched to La Iglesia de Dios Inc., located on the first floor of a duplex at 562 and 564 W. Market St., and found fire on the first and second floors, Buffington said.
The fire was extinguished in an hour, and no one was injured, he said.
La Iglesia de Dios Inc. - the Church of God - kept office space on the first floor of the duplex and met in a cinderblock structure attached to the rear of the duplex, which was not damaged, Buffington said.
Seven adults and two children who lived in the two apartments above the church's offices were displaced, Buffington said.
The fire was determined to be arson after investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - the federal agency that handles all church fires - York City Police and a Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal examined the wreckage.
Buffington would only say that "evidence that was recovered from the scene" led investigators to their finding. Buffington would not say where the fire started, saying it was pertinent to the investigation.
Buffington estimated the damage at $40,000.
In the early afternoon, the fire department put up yellow signs on all the doors stating that the building was "unfit for human occupancy."
"Until the repairs are done, that's pretty standard," Buffington said of the signs.
Church member Benjamin Lopez, of York, came by after the yellow signs were put up.
"Wow," Lopez said, shaking his head, as he looked at the damage on the building's west side.
He said the church, whose pastor is Luis Daniel Rivera, had been there for about a year, holding its services in the cinderblock building, accessible by West Mason Avenue.
William Miller, who lives at 572 W. Market St., and Patty Mitchell, who also lives nearby, helped evacuate the second-floor residents.
"I was up at Turkey Hill when she (Mitchell) came up and got me," Miller said. "She told me to call 911, but I didn't have my phone. I ran down here and got everybody out of the building."
Mitchell, who bought food at Turkey Hill and was heading home, said she passed the duplex and "smelled something and looked and I seen the fire (in the breezeway)" between the duplex and 566 W. Market St. "So then I ran to Turkey Hill."
To help
Anyone with information is asked to call York City Police at 846-1234 or send an anonymous text to TIP411 (847411) by typing the word YORKTIPS, then leaving a message.
Previous arson
The duplex - which was then owned by Harold Bender Jr., of West Manchester Township - was the site of another arson on July 15, 2005.
It was one of at least 10 properties hit by what police called a serial arsonist.
In November 2005, York City Police charged Louis Alfred Gaspero Jr., 55, a then-resident of the 500 block of West Market Street, with the arsons.
He was arrested after starting two fires outside his home in August, and after firefighters arrived, set a third inside his apartment building, police said.
After discovering the third fire, police and firefighters went to Gaspero's apartment on the second floor and found him "pretending to act as if he were sleeping" with a cigarette lighter nearby, charging documents state.
Gaspero, who was facing three to six years in prison, pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced in May 2006. His penalty was satisfied on March 29, according to charging documents.[tcz: 2010: ]
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