Van fire, explosion further test local family’s fortitute

By Erin Remai
Herald Staff Writer

All that’s left of the van Sharpsville residents Fred and Tonette Hoag used for their business is a melted, burned-out shell.

The Rindfuss Contracting van — with all the business tools inside — was set on fire and blown up at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“That was our livelihood,” said Mrs. Hoag, gesturing towards the destroyed van parked behind the family’s Mercer Avenue home. She said the tools were worth $15,000; the van itself, $10,000. “I just don’t know how someone could do something like this,” Mrs. Hoag said, her voice choked with emotion.

Sharpsville police accused Larry Robert Strosser, 21, of 225 Golf Road, Jefferson Township, in connection with the van fire. Mrs. Hoag said neither she nor her husband were acquainted with Strosser.

According to a criminal complaint prepared by Sharpsville police and on file at the office of District Justice James E. McMahon, Sharon:

Early Wednesday, Strosser stole a vehicle from an unnamed business on Main Street in Sharpsville, drove it to another location and threw its contents on the ground.

He then took a wallet, bank card and a driver’s license from a parked vehicle; the stolen items were found in his possession at a Hunter Road residence where he was staying, the paperwork said. Later, the affidavit said, he set fire to the Hoag’s van and their neighbor’s truck.

Strosser was arraigned Wednesday on charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, arson, causing or risking a catastrophe and criminal mischief. He was taken to Mercer County Jail after failing to post $15,000 bond and a parole detainer. McMahon set a preliminary hearing for Thursday.

The incident was the second major blow to hit the Hoags in five years.

On Dec. 8, 1995, they lost their South Pymatuning Township home to a fire. “We lost everything in a fire at Christmastime in 1995 and we had just started getting back on our feet ...,” Mrs. Hoag said, crying.

She said her husband recently replaced tools he had lost in that fire; they weren’t even out of the boxes.

Mrs. Hoag said the van was doused with fluid and ignited. The explosion “shook the whole neighborhood” and woke her 13-year-old daughter and most of the neighbors.

She said when she got home from work at almost 4 a.m., firefighters were still putting out the blaze.

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