A Wheatland woman will be jailed from 1 to 18 months for torching her Shenango Township mobile home for insurance money.

Melissa S. Rhodes, 25, of 79 Laird Ave., was given credit for 10 days already served in jail.

The jail term will be followed by a year of probation.

Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Dobson also assessed costs at her Oct. 31 sentencing.

Charges of insurance fraud and filing a false insurance claim were dropped.

On Dec. 26, Ms. Rhoades started a fire in the mobile home at 92 James St., Oak Leaf Estates, by igniting a bathroom rug with a lighter, police said.

The blaze gutted the vacant mobile home and caused $10,000 damage, police said.

Ms. Rhoades reported to her insurance company that a cousin, Jeffrey N. Weilacker, told her he was working in the mobile home and the fire started when he tried to extinguish a cigarette in an ash tray, then dumped the contents into a garbage bag, police said.

She asked Weilacker to tell the insurance company that he had accidentally started the fire, police said.

Weilacker went to police and agreed to be fitted with a body recorder, police said. He discussed the fire with her, and she admitted she set it for insurance money, police said.

Ms. Rhoades had tried to torch the trailer twice before, police said.