Worker Torched Pennsylvania Store, Causing $2M in Damage

A man has been jailed on charges he set fire to the Pennsylvania discount store where he worked, starting a blaze that did $2 million in damage to a strip mall.

When asked to comment after his arraignment Monday, Johnathan Szabo, of Charleroi, said simply, “Sorry.”

Rostraver Township police say Szabo worked at the Dollar General store in the Tri-County Plaza. They say he picked up a cigarette lighter from a shelf and began setting fire to paper products about 6:45 p.m. Friday. There were several customers in the store, who all got out safely.

Police say Szabo confessed and even gave a reason for setting the fire, but they declined to disclose it until Szabo’s preliminary hearing Nov. 7.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for the 24-year-old.