A woman accused of setting fire to an abandoned Erie house in September 2023 is no longer facing criminal charges in the incident.
Prosecutors have withdrawn charges including felony counts of arson, reckless burning and criminal trespass against 36-year-old Virginia A. Flagella in the Sept. 13, 2023, fire that gutted a vacant house at 717 Vine St. and spread to a neighboring, occupied house.
Prosecutors withdrew the charges because Flagella was found not to be competent or restorable after psychiatric evaluations, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement issued to the Erie Times-News on Friday.
Flagella was charged by Erie police a day after the fire, after investigators said they found surveillance camera footage that showed Flagella leaving the house shortly before the fire broke out, and investigators received information from a witness that led them to identify Flagella as a suspect.