Maurice C. Bingham

A neighbor is accused of pouring gasoline onto an Evans City home — occupied by 12 people, 10 of them children — near a furnace vent. No one was injured in the incident Monday night.

The Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department arrested 57-year-old Maurice C. Bingham on a list of felonies, including 12 counts of aggravated assault and one count each of risking a catastrophe and criminal mischief. He also is charged with 12 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of loitering and prowling at night, all misdemeanors. He is free on $250,000 bail.

Police said they were called around 8:20 p.m. for a disturbance on the 400 block of Van Buren Street. The caller told police that Bingham had gotten into a confrontation with his daughter, who is a juvenile, and later poured gas, from a gas can, on his home.

A Jackson Township police officer, who assisted in the call, was first there and reportedly found gasoline on the side of the victim's home, according to charging documents, in the area of a furnace ventilation duct. The officer also smelled a “strong odor” of gas coming from inside the home's basement, police said, and there was a trail of what appeared to be gas on the road between that house and Bingham's adjacent house.

“The actions of (the defendant),” documents said, “put the victims at risk of serious bodily injury or death and did create a situation where catastrophic results could have happened.”

Bingham's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 13. Online court records did not indicate if he has an attorney, and he could not be reached for comment.