January 26, 2024
Provided Image/Montgomery County D.A.'s Office
JG Transmissions auto shop in Willow Grove was destroyed by a fire on Dec. 29, 2023. Sean Gahagan, 56, is charged with setting that blaze and another minutes earlier in Huntingdon Valley.
A former employee has been charged with allegedly starting the fire last month that destroyed the Willow Grove auto mechanic shop where he once worked, as well a second fire the same night that burned a shed, Montgomery County authorities said.
According to police, Sean Gahagan, 56, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, admitted he started the Dec. 29 fires at JG Transmissions, his former employer, and the shed 5 miles away in Huntingdon Valley.
At 8:45 p.m. that night, Upper Moreland firefighters responded to the fire at JG Transmissions, an auto shop that had been around since 1994. The building at 616 Davis Road was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, police said. Lower Moreland police said another fire had been reported 15 minutes earlier inside the shed on a property in Huntingdon Valley.
The flames at the auto mechanic shop destroyed the business before it could be extinguished, police said. The fire at the shed was put out with a fire extinguisher. Investigators say both fires were intentionally set.
Gahagan had stopped by JG Transmissions the morning of the fire to ask the owner about doing work there, according to investigators, but the owner told Gahagan he didn't have anything for him. Details of the cases released by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office on Thursday didn't say when Gahagan was last employed at JG Transmissions.
Gahagan was wearing a hooded camouflage jacket at the repair shop, and left in a red 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, police said. Surveillance video shows the same car parked outside a neighboring business minutes before the fire was reported at JG Transmissions and a man wearing a camouflage jacket running from the car to the auto shop and back, authorities said. Gahagan allegedly stole a small amount of cash from JG Transmissions before starting the fire.
At the shed in Huntingdon Valley, authorities found two flammable liquids, one of which was used by JG Transmissions to clean auto parts, prosecutors said.
Three days after the fires, police in Lebanon — about 90 miles west of Willow Grove — arrested Gahagan for an unrelated trespassing offense at a church. He was wearing the same camouflage jacket when he was arrested, authorities said.
Gahagan was convicted of a 2004 arson at a property in Huntingdon Valley, according to prosecutors. He told investigators he started the shed fire because he "felt cheated" for being ordered to pay $80,000 to that owner in connection with the 20-year-old case, authorities said.
Prosecutors did not say whether the owners of the Willow Grove repair shop and the Huntingdon Valley property are connected in any way.
Days after the fires, prosecutors said Gahagan used grey paint to cover the hood, roof and rear fin of his Chevy in an attempt to disguise the vehicle.
Gahagan has been charged multiple counts of arson, along with burglary, criminal mischief and other offenses. He is held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of bail set at $500,000 cash. He has a bail review hearing scheduled Friday and a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday.
