Arson suspect Strosser facing more charges

By Erin Remai
Herald Staff Writer

Charges were held for court Thursday against a 21-year-old Jefferson Township man accused of stealing a minivan parked at a Main Street, Sharpsville, business and setting fire to a utility van and a pickup on Mercer Avenue on Feb. 23.

Larry Robert Strosser, of 225 Golf Road, was arraigned Feb. 23 before District Justice James McMahon, Sharon on charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, arson, causing or risking catastrophe and criminal mischief. At his preliminary hearing on Thursday, prosecutors added a charge of attempted arson and two additional counts of criminal mischief.

Strosser was returned to Mercer County Jail after failing to post $15,000 bond. Sharpsville police department patrolman Keith Falasco testified that he received a call about a stolen minivan at 3:13 a.m. Feb. 23 from a Main Street restaurant and then was later dispatched to a fire at 3:37 a.m. at High Street and Mercer Avenue.

A utility van belonging to Fred and Tonette Hoag parked behind a Mercer Avenue residence was on fire and neighbor Darryl Anderson, who testified he had been awakened by a “muffled explosion,” reported to police that someone tried to start a fire in his pickup truck.

A third neighbor, Deborah Cavas, testified that her vehicle had been entered and that her wallet was missing.

None of the Mercer Avenue residents were acquainted with Strosser, they testified. Strosser was at a Main Street bar during the early morning hours of Feb. 23, according to the testimony of Robert Donatelli and Christopher Brakeman, who were also at the bar. When the two men left the bar around 2:55 a.m., Donatelli testified, Strosser was no longer there and he discovered that his minivan, which he parked behind the bar, was missing.

Donatelli searched the neighborhood for the van and then called police, he testified.

The minivan was later recovered near Shenango Dam. Papers and a jacket that had been inside the van were scattered on the ground near it, Falasco testified.

Brakeman, who said he had known Strosser for about one month, called the Hunter Street, South Pymatuning Township residence where Strosser was staying at about 3:30 a.m. and asked if he was home. The woman living there, Timary Cole, said Strosser was not home. She later testified that after she got the phone call she went out to look for Strosser.

When she returned home at about 4 a.m., Ms. Cole said, Strosser was there and was intoxicated. Falasco testified that Strosser had been drinking but was coherent. Police arrived at the house shortly afterward to question Strosser, she testified.

She said Strosser had mud on his clothes but he said he couldn’t remember where he got the mud or what happened. Later, she said, she found cigarettes in the pocket of his jeans, which were stuffed under the bed, and a wallet on the bed. The cigarette brand was the same as cigarettes Mrs. Hoag kept in the utility van, and the wallet belonged to Mrs. Cavas, the owner of the entered vehicle on Mercer Avenue, both women testified.

Sharpsville police arrested Strosser after South Pymatuning Township police were called to Hunter Street at 4:52 a.m., police said.

McMahon said he took the circumstantial evidence surrounding the incident into account in deciding to hold the charges for court and to return Strosser to jail.

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