REYNOLDSVILLE, W.Va. — A 19 year old Reynoldsville man is facing multiple charges in relation to a June 18 fire at a mobile home on Lyons Park Drive.
Gage Allen Lyons is charge with first-degree arson, fourth-degree arson and two counts of burglary. If convicted of all four felonies, Lyons could face 5 to 41 years in prison.
Lyons appeared before Harrison Chief Magistrate Mark Gorby Tuesday. Bail was set at $40,000 cash or surety.
According to the criminal complaint, Lyons admitted to taking a jar of moonshine to the mobile home, entering through an open window and pouring the moonshine on the breaker panel and the surrounding floor. He then set the moonshine on fire, which scorched the floor.
Lyons watched the fire from his home next door, and when the fire went out, he attempted to take a Styrofoam cup filled with gasoline back over to the house, but soon realized it was eating through the cup, the complaint said.
The defendant then used a liquid soap bottle to hold the gasoline, and upon entering the mobile home a second time, squirted a line of gasoline onto a couch that he then lit on fire with his lighter.
The fire quickly grew and vented toward the open window, trapping both Gage and a juvenile male in the living room. They then exited the center bedroom rear window, where Gage dropped the container, the complaint said.