Serial arsonist sentenced to prison for destroying the Montco tire shop that once employed him
Sean Gahagan lit two fires on the same night in December 2023, one of which gutted JG Transmissions in Willow Grove, according to prosecutors.
A serial arsonist whose 2023 blaze destroyed a business in Willow Grove was sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison.
Sean Gahagan, 58, pleaded guilty last week to three counts of arson for a fire he set that gutted JG Transmissions, as well as a smaller fire at a home in Lower Moreland.
The latter fire was located at a home that Gahagan had previously targeted 20 years earlier — prosecutors said Gahagan, frustrated that he had to pay restitution for the damages suffered in the first fire, lit the second fire in a act of revenge.
Gahagan’s attorney, Gregory Nester, said Monday that his client accepted responsibility for what he has done.
The investigation into Gahagan began in December 2023, when police in Lower Moreland were called to a home on Huntingdon Pike, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. Inside a shed at the rear of the property, an officer saw that two fires had been lit using wood piled inside the shed. The officer was able to control some of the fire using a fire extinguisher, and a local fire company was able to put it out completely.
The home’s owner, Joe Traurig, told The Inquirer at the time that Gahagan had lived next door to him in 2004, when he was charged with setting fire to Traurig’s home. Gahagan pleaded guilty to that crime and served nearly 18 months behind bars.
Minutes after the 2024 fire in Traurig’s shed, police in nearby Upper Moreland responded to a report of a fire at JG Transmissions, about four miles away. By the time officers arrived, the business was fully engulfed. Firefighters helped control the blaze, but the building was largely destroyed.
Surveillance footage from the area around both locations revealed a man in a red Chevrolet Cobalt parking nearby right before the fires were reported. The footage from JG Transmissions showed the man wearing a distinctive camouflage jacket and matching pants.
The owner of JG Transmissions told detectives that Gahagan, a former employee, had visited the shop earlier that day, asking for work to be done on a red Chevrolet Cobalt, the affidavit said.
Gahagan was later arrested wearing clothing that matched what the suspect was seen wearing in the surveillance videos.
