Man accused by police of stealing car from Bell driveway, setting it on fire after crashing it

A Kittanning man was arraigned Tuesday on state police accusations that he stole a car from a Bell home, crashed it and set the interior on fire, according to court papers.

Robert James Booth, 29, is charged with reckless burning, theft, risking catastrophe and related offenses.

Troopers said a Dodge Charger was reported stolen the morning of July 12, 2020, from the driveway of a home along Muffley Hollow Road, off Route 819. A neighbor told police a man wearing no shoes or shirt rang the doorbell around 12:45 a.m. that day. The man appeared impaired and the neighbor refused to give him a ride. The man made a couple phone calls — one of which police later determined was to his wife — and was given directions to Kittanning, according to court papers.

Meanwhile, police found the stolen Dodge Charger in a ditch about 23 miles away in Kittanning Township, Armstrong County. The interior had been burned and a partially burned rag was sent for lab testing, according to court papers. Investigators determined the fire had been intentionally set.

Booth’s DNA proved to be a match to evidence found on the rag, according to court papers. When police interviewed him, Booth claimed he had been kicked out of a bar and walked home after making the phone calls.

An arrest warrant was issued for him in January. Booth was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $15,000 bail. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records.

A March 7 preliminary hearing is set. He was sentenced in 2017 to 120 days under house arrest in Armstrong County court on a drunken-driving charge, according to online court records.