A Coplay woman is behind bars Sunday after police said she set a mattress in her home on fire during a fight with her husband, endangering her two young children.
Elisabet Martinez Genao, 28, is charged with multiple counts of felony arson, reckless burning and recklessly endangering another person. She was arraigned before District Justice David Howells and sent to Lehigh County Jail under $60,000 bail.
According to a criminal complaint:
Police and firefighters were called to Genao’s apartment at 32 S. Seventh St. at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and found black smoke billowing from the windows. Genao’s husband told officers that he and his wife were arguing and she set a fire.
The husband told officers he did not know if his children were inside, the report says.
Residents of an adjoining apartment were evacuated as police officers tried to enter Genao’s apartment. They found the front door barricaded by large suitcases and a television that appeared to have been thrown from the second floor.
There was thick smoke throughout the apartment and broken glassware and dishes covering the floors. Two children, including an infant in a high chair, were found in the kitchen.
Officers found Genao, smelling of alcohol, in an upstairs bedroom.
In another bedroom, officers found a king-sized mattress with two burn holes and a pair of woman’s sweatpants that were burned. The mattress was wet and smelled of alcohol. Officers observed a whiskey bottle at the bottom of the stairs and saw that several smoke detectors in the home had been disabled.
According to the complaint, Genao’s husband told officers that he saw his wife use a lighter to ignite a dryer fabric softener sheet and fled the home because he believed she was trying to kill him. He told officers his children were in the family’s car when he left, and he believed they were safe when he went to warn a neighbor about the fire and call police.
A witness told police that he saw a toddler, later identified as one of Genao’s children, walking around Seventh Street shortly before police arrived. The man said the child told him “mommy is mad at daddy” before a woman came out of the apartment and took the toddler and an infant who was in a nearby car into the apartment, the report states.
Morning Call reporter Laurie Mason Schroeder can be reached at 610-820-6506 or lmason@mcall.com.
