PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A volunteer firefighter in Montgomery County has been charged with arson, accused of starting fires and then going out to fight them with his fire company.
Justin Sholly, 29, from Penn Avenue in Souderton has been charged with 18 felonies, including arson and causing a catastrophe, after allegedly setting three fires.
According to charging documents, two fires were set on Friday, May 29, with one being a trash fire and the other in a detached garage near occupied homes at Lumber Street and Wile Avenue. The next day, another fire destroyed a barn and other buildings at the intersection of School House Road and Harleysville Pike, also not far from a home with people inside at the time.
Documents said Sholly has served with the Perseverance Volunteer Fire Company in Souderton. Surveillance video showed him arriving at the fire house at 4:25 a.m. on Saturday, about six minutes before the company was dispatched to the barn fire.
In the criminal complaint, detectives said when they went to Sholly’s home, they saw a starter log and firewood in plain view in his car, with a lighter on the front seat.
The complaint also indicated he admitted to starting all three fires and that he set the fire in the detached garage because he knew a boss who had fired him last year lived nearby.
Sholly has a preliminary hearing scheduled for next week.
