Sunday's Internet Edition, September 07, 2008.
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Publisher - A former Roane County couple and their nephew have been arrested on arson charges stemming from fires that destroyed the couple’s home at Clover last year.
Harold Jay “Butch” Fellenstein, 62, and Wilma Lee Fellenstein, 57, now of St. Albans, were arrested Thursday in Kanawha County on charges of 1st degree arson and burning insured property.
They were arraigned by Kanawha Magistrate Ron Shelton, who set bond at $50,000 each. The couple is being held in the Central Regional Jail in lieu of bond.
Their arrests came the same day Wilma Fellenstein’s nephew turned himself over to authorities.
Ryan Dale Lambert, 29, of Orma, allegedly admitted to setting the fire last May that destroyed the couple’s home. He was charged with 1st degree arson. Roane Magistrate Russell Goodwin set his bond at $20,000.
The following day, Magistrate Denver Gandee Jr. lowered the bond to $5,000 after prosecutor Mark Sergent made a request for reduced bond because Lambert was cooperating with the investigation.
The charges filed by Assistant State Fire Marshal Brad Harley involve a May 9 fire that destroyed the Fellensteins’ home and garage on W.Va. 36, near Banner Hill Road.
Firefighters from departments in Clover and Spencer responded to the fire shortly after 1 a.m. and reportedly found what they said appeared to be two separate fires.
A fire in the kitchen of the single-story home had spread to the attic, while flames were coming out of the roof of a nearby garage and storage building. Firefighters said no one was home at the time of the fires.
Firefighters were on the scene for about four hours but were unable to save the home or the garage.
According to the charges, the Fellensteins filed a claim with Nationwide Insurance after the fires.
