Ex-Employee Pleads Guilty in Pennsylvania Restaurant Arson

A former volunteer firefighter has pleaded guilty to setting a fire that destroyed a popular northeastern Pennsylvania restaurant where he worked.

Nineteen-year-old Daniel Parsons of New Milford entered the plea Wednesday in Susquehanna County Court in the April 11 fire that destroyed Bingham’s Restaurant and two other businesses in Lenox. He is scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

Investigators said Parsons, who worked as a dishwasher, told police he lit cardboard boxes on fire because he was upset at the way he was being treated at the restaurant. Authorities said in court papers that he also returned to the scene to help fight the blaze as a member of the New Milford Fire Department.