MIDDLEBURG — Claiming mental illness, Alvin Ray Hoover pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony arson for setting the Aug. 7 fire that destroyed his parents’ well-known Irvin’s Country Tinware retail store in Mount Pleasant Mills.
Mr. Hoover, represented by public defender Robert Steinberg, pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, to the most serious charge of first-degree felony arson in Snyder County Court.
The 35-year-old Mount Pleasant Mills resident told authorities he burned down the West Perry Township store owned and operated for 30 years by his parents, Irvin and Doris Hoover, because unidentified “people” told him to do it.
The fire caused about $1.8 million in damage to the three-story building that contained furniture and tinware.
Mr. Hoover was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility in Danville following his Aug. 8 arrest and was later transferred to Snyder County Jail, where he’s been held since in lieu of $250,000 bail.
District Attorney Michael Sholley said Mr. Hoover will undergo a mental evaluation at a state facility prior to sentencing by Snyder County President Judge Harold F. Woelfel Jr.
The terms of the plea will be up to the judge, but Mr. Hoover faces 20 years of county supervision and will be required to receive treatment for his mental problems, the prosecutor said.
“I believe it’s appropriate,” said Mr. Sholley, who consulted with Mr. Hoover’s family; state police Cpl. David Dixon, who investigated the arson; and several firefighters before agreeing to the plea.
At an arraignment soon after his arrest — on two counts of felony arson, reckless burning, risking a catastrophe, possession of incendiary materials and criminal mischief — Mr. Hoover allegedly remarked that only one of the charges “would stick.”
Cpl. Dixon said Mr. Hoover told him that he wouldn’t be convicted of arson, endangering other people, because the doors of the building “were locked and no one was inside” when he set the 8 p.m. fire, according to the criminal complaint.
The Hoovers continue to operate a manufacturing facility but said last year they hadn’t decided whether to rebuild the retail store.
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Son pleads guilty to setting parents’ business on fire
Irvin’s Tinware arsonist claims mental illness
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