The owner of a property that burned last week in Danville, PA now has to pay a fine and go to jail.Gib Spradlin, the owner of the old Cabinet Industries in Danville, walked into Montour County court on Monday afternoon. A judge ruled that Spradlin must go to jail for contempt of court.
Just a week ago Spadlin's building on Water Street in Danville caught fire. He told Newswatch 16 he was removing piping from the building with a blowtorch when a fire started. Danville officials say he wasn't suppose to be doing that. Officials got a court order in April to stop Spradlin from doing any unauthorized demolition work. So, they took him to court.
"He was not following any court orders and, if he wasn't incarcerated, he wouldn't have gotten the message and keep doing what he was doing. Eventually somebody would have gotten hurt badly. And, secondly, the court need to let people know court orders mean something," said Mike Dennehy, Danville Solicitor.
The judge ruled Spradlin violated the court order because he was doing demolition work. Spradlin says the work he was doing when the fire started wasn't demolition.
"Do I think justice was served? Absolutely not. Did I do anything wrong other than what the court defined demolition? No, I did no to this day and I'll take that to my grave," said Spradlin.
The judge ordered Spradlin to pay court costs, a $1,000 fine and spend 30 days in jail. Spradlin is also not allowed on the property.
