Arsonist pleads guilty

A man accused of conspiring with his mother to torch a home in Bradford last summer entered a guilty plea to arson charges last week in McKean County Court.

Terry Bornheimer, 20, of Smethport admitted to starting a fire that left 11 people homeless in a plot to help his mother, 47-year-old Debra Miczo of Emporium, collect on an insurance policy.

Under an agreement with the McKean County Ditrict Attorney's office, Bornheimer pleaded guilty to arson, reckless endangerment and assisting an act of arson.

Public Defender Ron Langella, Bornheimer's attorney, said his client admitted to starting the fire at a vacant home at 170 Kennedy Street, but had no intention of having it spread to three nearby homes.

McKean County Judge John Yoder advised Bornheimer prior to accepting the plea that he could face as long as four years in prison. The defendant affirmed his decision to enter the plea. He will be sentenced on Oct. 11.

Miczo is also facing a variety of criminal charges.

Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors were prepared to call a witness to testify that he heard the suspects discussing a plan to torch the home. The witness, Benjamin Marsiglio, said he then heard Bornheimer describe starting the fire after the pair returned to Emporium from Bradford about three hours later.

Marsiglio quoted Bornheimer describing how he set the fire in a way that would make investigators blame vagrants.

Police also allegedly have videotaped evidence of Miczo's car being in the neighborhood at the time the fire was set.