A woman accused of using gasoline to set a house on fire in Ford City while four adults and a 4-month-old child were inside has been ordered to stand trial.

Joy Rosellie Lloyd, 42, of the 200 block of South McKean Street in Kittanning was charged by Southern Armstrong County Police with felony counts of aggravated arson and causing a catastrophe, along with five counts of reckless endangerment and a count of possession of an instrument of crime.

She was being detained in the Armstrong County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 cash bond. District Judge J. Gary DeComo ordered Lloyd to stand trial in county court following a Nov. 14 preliminary hearing, according to court records.

A police corporal responding to a 911 call shortly after 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 at a home in the 300 block of Plum Way said he could smell a strong odor of gasoline where two men were using an extinguisher to put out a fire in an enclosed porch, according to a criminal complaint.

The four adults were not injured but the infant was taken to a hospital where they were treated and released for smoke inhalation, police said.

Both men told police they saw someone dressed all in black walking near the house before they smelled smoke, the complaint said.

One of the women in the house told police that Lloyd, might be the person who started the fire because she was previously accused of arson while living in Maryland, according to the complaint.

Lloyd was also seen by one of the men who was in the house standing inside a nearby Sheetz store about 40 minutes before the the fire holding a gallon-size jug of water, the complaint said.

Another officer who was patrolling the area after the fire spotted Lloyd back at the convenience store where she was taken into custody, police said.

Lloyd told police she walked back and forth to the Sheetz several times that night but denied starting the fire, the complaint said.

Police said they found a Sheetz bag with a gallon-size water jug inside that was tossed into a trash receptacle near a business at the intersection of Manor Drive and Ferndale Street. The jug had a small amount of gasoline inside, the complaint said.

A Sheetz employee told police that a woman dressed in black bought a gallon of water and $5 worth of gasoline and then pumped $3.45 worth of gas into the jug after emptying the water, the compliant said.

Police said security video from a neighbor’s camera showed Lloyd coming from the direction of Sheetz.

A police dog detected the scent of gasoline on the porch and also on Lloyd’s shoes when she was in custody, the complaint said.

According to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service in Maryland, about 85 firefighters responded to a blaze at a three-story Motel 6 in Gaithersburg on Oct. 30, 2018.

Investigators charged Lloyd with counts of first degree arson and reckless endangerment. Maryland’s online court records do now show the results of that case. Information about the case was not available from public safety officials in Montgomery County.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)