Bell woman charged with setting home on fire, filing insurance claim

Brian C. Rittmeyer, The Valley News-Dispatch, Tarentum, Pa.
·2 min read

Jun. 22—A former Bell Township woman is accused of setting her home on fire last year after being unable to sell it and then filing an insurance claim for the loss.

State police said Britny Alandria Parks, 28, of Harker Heights, Texas, told two former friends she would be willing to pay them to burn the house after first asking them to repair it.

Police charged Parks with several felony counts, including arson, reckless burning, risking a catastrophe and filing a false insurance claim connected to the Aug. 31, 2020, fire at 305 Stewart St. She also faces a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment.

She was charged May 26 and arraigned Tuesday in Washington Township. She remained free on a $100,000 unsecured bond, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 30 before District Judge Jason Buczak.

Parks' attorney, Robert Perkins, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In a criminal complaint, the state police fire marshal's unit said Parks had been trying to move out and sell the house by August 2020 with negative results. On the date of the fire, Parks was at the house throughout the day removing household items and property to off-site storage, the complaint said.

She locked and left the house to travel out of state about an hour before area residents reported seeing smoke coming from it shortly before 7:30 p.m., police said.

Firefighters opened the front door with a key from a neighbor and put out the fire.

The fire marshal said the fire started in two places within the house. All other possible ignition sources were identified and ruled out other than an intentional act, the complaint said.

Parks filed an insurance claim for the loss, the complaint states.

State police said they spoke with two witnesses and former friends of Parks. According to the complaint, Parks had asked them to fix the house so she could sell it. When they looked at it to estimate what was needed, unexpected structural deficiencies were found.

They told police Parks talked about being tired of fixing everything and made comments about the amount of insurance coverage on the house. She made overtures to pay the friends to make a fire happen, police said.

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Brian at 724-226-4701, brittmeyer@triblive.com or via Twitter .