Arson suspect is charged in Covington Twp. crash
Apr. 26—A Wayne County man charged with arson and considered a person of interest in several other fires crashed a car in Covington Twp. and fled around the time two fires were set, according to a newly filed court paperwork.
Covington Twp. police on Monday obtained an arrest warrant charging Michael A. Yzkanin with a felony count of criminal mischief, a misdemeanor count of defiant trespass and two traffic citations centered on car crashes.
Yzkanin, 30, was arrested April 16 on charges he intentionally set fire to the former Gouldsboro Inn in Lehigh Twp. around 4:40 a.m. on April 14. The vacant property is approximately 240 feet from his home at 584 Main St.
The fire at the former tavern is one among several suspicious fires this month in the business' immediate vicinity and about 24 miles away in Jessup.
A little earlier on April 14, at around 3 a.m., a fire destroyed the former Library Pizza restaurant in Jessup, a neighborhood landmark.
Between April 15 and 19, firefighters in the two communities responded to five fires. State police fire marshals ultimately ruled each arson.
Trooper Nicholas DeSantis, a member of the fire marshal unit, said Wednesday the fires remain under investigation and Yzkanin is a person of interest in all of them.
An arrest warrant sought this week by Covington Twp. Patrolman Robert Bastek Jr. alleged a car Yzkanin crashed and abandoned was discovered April 14, when two of the early morning fires started.
That day, township police received a report that a black Buick Encore crashed through a gate into a field behind Community Bank, 942 Drinker Turnpike, and struck a shipping container.
The police report does not indicate what time the crash is believed to have happened, though the officer called it in to the Lackawanna County Communications Center at 6:13 p.m. April 14.
The container is owned by RLE Enterprises but a representative could not confirm Wednesday what time it was first discovered damaged.
Attempts to reach police for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday.
The person who crashed fled on foot. Police followed shoe prints leading away from the scene but eventually lost the trail. At the crash scene, the officer reported he smelled gas and noted he could not be sure where it was coming from.
Left at the scene was a driver's license belonging to Karly Granza, who told the police her boyfriend, Yzkanin, had been using the vehicle. She said he had been at a friend's house in Covington Twp.
Bastek reached Yzkanin over the phone and asked why he crashed through the gate and struck a shipping container. Yzkanin said he did not remember.
Yzkanin is awaiting arraignment on the Lackawanna County charges and has a preliminary hearing scheduled May 10 on the Wayne County arson case.
Attorney Bernard Brown, one of the attorneys Yzkanin retained, requested the hearing, originally scheduled for Wednesday, be postponed to allow the defense time to prepare.
"We're looking at the entirety of the case and what has been presented as evidence," Brown said.
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