State of Emergency in Coatesville January 25, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Journalism, Random Rubbish.Tags: Arson, CNN, Coatesville, Crime, Fox News
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Officials never thought it would get this serious.
A string of 17 arsons have shaken the 11,000+ residents of Coatesville, Chester County since early December. Dating back to the beginning of 2008, there have been 30.
It’s a story I was researching at Fox29 today, as I helped to compile reports on the most recent arsons following last night’s biggest one yet, where 15 rowhomes caught fire, displacing 11 families.
Out of the arsons, one elderly woman was killed as a result of the fire. But everyone involved in the fires so far are innocent victims.
National news organizations, like CNN and Fox News, have picked up the story.
The coverage by the Philadelphia media has been great, especially since the Coatesville area is not very convenient for Philly news organizations to get out there. But more importantly, they’ve been publicizing the story, putting it on the radar of those other than police.
It seems like insurance fraud to me. What better way to cover your tracks than to make it part of a string of crimes. Hey Coatesville PD, find out who owns these properties and see how much they’ve recieved in insurance payouts? With the ecomnomy in the dumps, people are more likely to do something drastic, like set their neighbor’s house on fire and let it burn on to their own.