Sep 9, 2004 By Jennifer Harr 2 min read

Fayette County jurors could not decide if a Connellsville man set fire to a friend’s home before stealing his tools in March. John Kimmel, 36, was convicted of criminal mischief, theft and receiving stolen property, but jurors deadlocked on a count of arson, and Judge Gerald R. Solomon declared a mistrial on that charge.

Kimmel was charged with setting fire to the home of John Ritenour, a lifelong friend and fellow member of the Crusade for Jesus Apostolic Church near Point Marion.

The March 14 fire came the day after Kimmel stopped at Ritenour’s Lake Lynn home to talk to him. Dreama Ritenour, his wife, testified that Kimmel was irate when she told him her husband, an ordained minister, wasn’t home, and that Kimmel called her an unsavory name before backing quickly out of her driveway.

The next day, the Ritenours went to church in West Virginia, and when they were done with services, there were multiple missed calls on their cellular telephones notifying them that their home was on fire, the couple testified.

They returned to find the one-story doublewide home, owned by Dreama Ritenour’s mother, Wilma Glover, engulfed in flames. Inside, two dogs, two prairie dogs and two birds died.

John Ritenour testified that as he was talking to police, he noticed that the window of his truck was broken.

More than $200 in tools had been taken from the vehicle. When police talked to Kimmel, they found the tools lying in the back seat of his car, trooper James Brownfield told deputy prosecutor Jason Adams.

Kimmel, represented by Assistant Public Defender Thomas Shaffer, protested his innocence when he took the stand in his own defense, claiming first that he and Ritenour traded tools, and then that he took Ritenour’s tools, but Ritenour knew and was expecting something in return.

“If I stole some tools … then burnt a structure down, why would I leave them in the back seat of my car, unlocked, for state police to find?” Kimmel asked.

One of the tools recovered from the car came from a closet inside Ritenour’s home, he testified. The fire was started in that area, police said.

After the verdict was read, Dreama Ritenour said she was not satisfied that Kimmel was not convicted of arson.

Prosecutors have the option of retrying Kimmel for arson at a later date.

Judge Gerald R. Solomon said he will hand down an order scheduling sentencing.