17-year-old charged with arson to receive psychiatric evaluation
A 17-year-old girl accused of deliberately setting three fires at her parents’ farm will receive a psychiatric evaluation to determine if she’s competent to stand trial.
The girl, who’s facing three counts of arson, had her first hearing today in Butler County Court.
Juvenile Court Master Eric Levin determined at a hearing the teenager will stay in the Jefferson County Detention Facility in Ohio until her next hearing May 17.
The girl, who has been in the juvenile facility since Friday, appeared at the hearing by way of a television monitor.
Investigators believe the girl set three fires in April on her parents’ Clearfield Township farm that destroyed a large barn, a garage, a smaller barn, the family house, killed 70 pigs and damaged another house.
Combined damage in the three fires exceeded $200,000 at the farm where she lived with her father, Harry Snyder III, 62; mother, Debbie; and two brothers.
In addition to arson, the girl is charged with two counts each of risking a catastrophe and criminal mischief, seven counts of reckless endangerment and a sole count of agricultural vandalism.
