William Burke

A Winfield Township man pleaded guilty Friday to breaking into a home and manufacturing methamphetamine, causing a house fire in February.

William E. Burke, 38, pleaded guilty to felony criminal trespass and operating a methamphetamine lab before President Judge Thomas Doerr.

The plea agreement calls for a sentence of 15 to 30 months in a state correctional facility, followed by probation. Burke is also expected to be ordered to pay restitution, fines and complete community service when he is sentenced on Monday for the incident at 129 Germaine Road, Butler Township, on Feb. 3.

He was charged alongside Brittney R. Rudolph, 34, of Saxonburg, who currently awaits further court proceedings.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and Butler Township Police had been investigating Burke for methamphetamine manufacturing, when the incident occurred on Germaine Road, which left Burke badly burned.

Police said the pair broke into the house overnight and used a one-pot method to make the drugs. Shortly after, the building caught fire.

Several people, including the homeowner and her adult son, were in the house when the blaze began at about 6 a.m. Feb. 3, police said. All were able to get out. Some went to neighboring homes for help.

Butler Township fire crews responded to the fully-involved residential structure and found heavy flames in the basement of the home that had moved into the first floor, the rear of the structure and into the attached garage, which led to a roof collapse.

Four people were taken to the hospital by Butler Ambulance Services and Burke was flown to West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh with severe burns on his left side and left arm, police said.

A dog died in the fire and fire crews were unable to locate several cats that lived there.

Police said Burke later admitted that the fire started while he was cooking up the drugs. He told police that the fire started after he moved to a lit candle to get a better look at the concoction, police said.

He also admitted that the pair entered the home without telling the homeowner or her son, police said.

Emergency crews also noticed Rudolph coming out of the nearby woods. After searching the woods, authorities found a green liter bottle of Mountain Dew with a tube protruding from the lid, believed to be the remnants of a hydrochloric “gas generator,” a common piece of equipment used to make methamphetamine.

Police said Rudolph claimed that after the fire started, Burke had given her the bottle and told her to throw it away, but later said she had picked it up before leaving the house, believing it was an ordinary bottle of pop with a straw coming out of it. She said she simply discarded it.

She denied using meth but acknowledged knowing Burke had previously used the drug. Rudolph also denied knowing anything about how to make the drug or Burke's alleged meth-making know-how, police said.

During the investigation, homeowner Andrea Day reported that she did not know Burke or Rudolph and that neither had her permission to be in the house. Her son, Shawn Day Jr., admitted that Burke had previously been allowed to stay at the house, but neither was permitted there the night of the fire, documents said.

After waking to a commotion, Day reported that he went downstairs and saw Burke and a woman running out the garage door. That is when he saw the fire in the basement, and ran to get his mother upstairs before fleeing the house, documents said.