Family charged with torching trailer
A former Indiana County family has been charged with the planning and torching of a trailer they owned in Strongstown, Pine Township.
The Mell family, now of Elmora, Cambria County, was charged by state police after an investigation found that son Terry Eugene Mell Jr., 20, torched their mobile home Jan. 1 and the family helped to plan the fire.
Terry Mell Sr. and Tina Marie Mell owned the home located along Route 403, just south of Route 422. During the investigation, state police Fire Marshal Jake Andolina found that a third party had driven Terry Mell Jr. and a friend, Brian Wayne Rummel, age and address unknown, to the scene so they could light the fire, according to an affidavit.
Rummel , who is to be arraigned Monday on charges of criminal conspiracy, allegedly confessed to helping Terry Mell Jr. He told Andolina that he was at the Mell residence on Jan. 1 when Terry Mell Sr. began talking to Rummel, his son, and the driver, Peggy Anne Spigler, about burning the trailer.
Terry Mell Sr. said he wanted to "get rid of the headache," the affidavit said.
The three were supposed to go to Wal-Mart after that, but Terry Mell Jr. told Spigler to drop him and Rummel off near the scene and meet back in five minutes. On the way, Terry Mell Jr. told Rummel that he was going to burn down the trailer.
At the scene, Terry Mell Jr. told Rummel to wait in a field while he went inside. Two minutes later, Terry Mell Jr. jumped out the back door and Rummel saw flames in the living room.
The two ran from the scene and met Spigler. Terry Mell Jr. told Rummel and Spigler that he squirted cologne on a mattress in the living room and lit it with a lighter.
Once back at the Mell residence, Rummel said he heard Terry Mell Sr. telling his son "good job."
The father also allegedly said the police "wouldn't think anything" of the fire because "most abandoned places in Strongstown get burnt anyway," the affidavit said.
The stories of Rummel and Spigler, who first told police the details about the crime, matched what Andolina found at the scene. The fire marshal found that the trailer was bent, twisted and distorted on one end from extreme heat. On that end was the living room, the affidavit said.
An area on the ground near a door to the trailer also was found to be burned in a straight line, "as if a trail (of flammable liquid) was poured to permit safe egress of the actor." Two gas lines at one end of the trailer were found cut.
A propane gas tank inside was about half full. A neighbor, David Detwiler, was working in a garage when he heard a loud "whoosh" sound. He looked outside and saw the fire, but didn't see anyone running away.
Detwiler's son, Brandon, was inside their home at the time, chatting online with Terry Mell Jr.'s sister, Stacy Lynn Mell, 18, who asked him if firefighters were at her house.
When Brandon Detwiler confirmed it, she wrote, "someone set the (expletive) thing with the gas down there for the stove and then set the wall on fire ... I think I know (who) done it."
She then told Brandon Detwiler that "Freddie was down there when it started so you tell me if he did or didn't. There was no electricity down there or anything."
Later, Rummel told police the family had been talking about Stacy Mell telling everyone online that Freddie Detwiler (not related to Brandon) did it because they knew he had an alibi. Tina Mell later cleared and reset the computer, the affidavit said.
Tina Mell told Andolina after the fire that she had to pay $207 per month for 13 more months on the double-wide trailer. It was unoccupied at the time of the fire, and the electric had been shut off. She also told police there was no insurance on the trailer.
No reason was given in the affidavit why burning down the trailer would "get rid of the headache" for the Mells. Andolina is out of the office until Monday.
Rummel also told police Terry Mell Jr. was the reason another structure in Strongstown was burned in 2000.
Terry Mell Jr. allegedly told Rummel that he and another boy were in an abandoned motel at the corner of routes 422 and 403 on May 22, 2000. The two ignited a pillow and were "kicking it around" before it eventually caught something else on fire, according to another affidavit.
The two went outside and shut the door, which Terry Mell Jr. threw an accelerant upon, and they ran home. Spigler confirmed the account.
Another woman who later contacted police, Natalie Trimble, said she and her boyfriend, Michael Warzel, saw Terry Mell Jr. and Charles "Freddie" Detwiler leave the scene at the time, driving in the grass behind the building.
Terry Mell Jr. was charged with arson and criminal conspiracy in the Jan. 1 fire, and criminal mischief and two counts of arson in the 2000 incident. Bond was set at $5,000 in each incident; Terry Mell Jr. posted 10 percent for each and was released.
Terry Mell Sr. was charged with criminal conspiracy to commit arson, a first-degree felony. He was released after posting 10 percent of a $2,500 bond.
District Justice George Thachik's office sent summons to Tina and Stacy Mell. They were charged with obstruction of justice.
