A Harrisburg woman will spend at least three years in state prison for torching a New Cumberland man’s apartment in a fit of rage last December, an act that left nine people temporarily homeless and sent one man to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Valerie Mesaros, 24, pleaded guilty in October to 11 counts of arson for starting the early-morning fire in the 800 block of Bridge Street last Dec. 30.
According to police reports, Mesaros was a guest at one of the apartments that night, but was asked to leave after an argument with the tenant. The origin of the fight was not clear.
A short while later, numerous witnesses said, they saw Mesaros return to the scene and break a window in the ground-floor apartment with a rock. One of those witnesses then said he saw Mesaros spray lighter fluid inside the open window, and drop a match in after it.