By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times

Stacey Lee Lewis Jr.

The Avondale man suspected of setting his mobile home ablaze on Tuesday, May 6, in Avondale, was taken into custody later the same day, said New Garden Township Police.

Police said at 8:15 p.m., an officer responded to the unit block of Santilli Road for an anonymous tip advising that Stacey Lee Lewis Jr., 56, had been seen in the area. Upon arrival, officers located Lewis, and he was arrested without incident, arraigned, and transported to Chester County Prison after failing to post $50,000 bail, police said.

A three-week marital dispute prompted the fire, according to the criminal complaint. Lewis was allegedly upset about his wife’s activities and threatened that she would “be coming home to nothing” if she didn’t change her behavior, the complaint said.

Police said they responded at 8:41 a.m. Tuesday morning to a mobile home in the 300 block of Ellicott Road in Avondale, where an officer found Lewis’s son, who had called 9-1-1 from a neighbor’s residence.  The son said that his father woke him up and told him to leave the house, police said. After the son exited the home with his father, he said his father re-entered the residence, advising him to wait in the car, at which point he heard glass breaking, smoke detectors going off, and fire crackling from inside the residence when his father reappeared at the front door, police said.

The complaint said that when the son yelled at his father to open the home’s door after he locked it, his father replied: “Let it burn.” Fearing that his father would hurt him if he tried to enter the home, the son ran to a neighbor’s for help and said when he returned, his father had disappeared, the complaint said.

Chester County Fire Marshal John Weer and Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal John Cornetta determined during a preliminary investigation that the fire was intentionally set, the complaint said. Weer said a strong smell of gasoline was present in several areas and a plastic gas can was located near one of the bedrooms, the complaint said.

Stacey Lewis faces three counts of arson – danger or death or bodily injury, inhabited building or structure, and endangerment of inhabited buildings – possession of explosive and incendiary material, and recklessly endangering another person, court records said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 16. Police said Lewis’s spouse, Donna Lewis, 51, was located and interviewed.