A man was arrested after beating his father and a woman in their bed with a blunt object Monday morning and locking the couple in their bedroom while the house near Sixth and Greenwich streets was on fire, Reading police said.
The victims, both of whom were seriously injured in the assaults, escaped to the porch after the suspect’s father forced open the padlocked door of their second-floor bedroom, police said in the criminal complaint charging Justin L. Staples, 38, no permanent address, with attempted criminal homicide.
Three other household members were not injured and safely escaped the home following the assault on the couple.
Fire department crews arrived to find flames coming out of the upper floors of the three-story home at 604 N. Sixth St., a middle-of-row home. The flames had spread to an adjoining home and threatened to spread along the attics to several more homes.
Patrols officers captured Staples within a few blocks of the victims’ home.
He was charged with two counts of attempted criminal homicide and four counts each of aggravated and simple assault.
Following arraignment before District Judge Brian K. Strand in Reading Central Court, Staples was committed to Berks County Prison in lieu of $85,000 bail to await a hearing.
According to the probable cause affidavit:
The suspect’s father said he permitted Staples to stay in the home the evening before the attack because he is homeless. He was to stay in what was described as his “den,” which is the middle room on the second floor.
About 8 a.m. Monday, the couple were asleep in the front bedroom on the second floor when Staples barged in and hit his father on the head several times with an unknown object. The father said he yelled to his son to stop. The father became dizzy from the blows.
The woman said she awoke to see Staples hitting his father, and around the same time she noticed smoke in the hallway.
She yelled for Justin to stop the assault, and he began hitting her with the same object before leaving the room and closing the door.
The couple tried to leave the room but found the door to the hallway locked. The father had to force the door open.
Emergency dispatchers fielded numerous calls from people who noticed the smoke. A patrol officer saw both victims on the porch bleeding from the head.
Both victims were taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital for what police described as serious injuries.
Firefighters, including crews from outside the city brought in on a second alarm, needed about a half-hour to control the fire, which caused extensive damage to the victims’ home.
While searching the home for the weapon and cause of the fire, police found a padlock and both sections of a clasp attached to the exterior of the door. A screw was found in a section of the clasp that would have been attached to the door frame if not for damage caused by the door being forced open by the victims. The padlock was found in the locked position.
A large amount of blood was seen on the bed sheet.
Personnel from the city fire marshal’s office are investigating the cause of the fire but determined it originated in the room where Staples had been staying. The fire department’s arson dog signaled the presence of an accelerant in two place in that room.
