{"id":67794,"date":"2025-12-22T19:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T19:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/67794\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T19:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T19:37:09","slug":"mental-health-crisis-in-allentown-leads-to-standoff-house-fire-injuries-cops-say-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/67794\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mental health crisis\u2019 in Allentown leads to standoff, house fire, injuries, cops say (UPDATE)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A drunken man is accused of barricading himself inside an Allentown home and setting it on fire during a dispute with his girlfriend in Allentown, <\/a>police said.<\/p>\n

Two officers were injured while they rescued Julio Rodriguez, 51, from the blaze at his home in the 700 block of South 10th Street, police said.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez is charged with felony arson; misdemeanor reckless endangerment; and misdemeanor disorderly conduct.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez was arraigned Saturday before District Judge Todd P. Heffelfinger, who set bail at $25,000. In lieu of bail, Rodriguez was taken to the Lehigh County jail. Court records did not immediately show any attorney information for Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

Investigators just before 1:45 p.m. Friday were called to Rodriguez\u2019s home for the reported blaze. The residence is connected to a neighboring home, court records state.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez was suffering from a mental health crisis during the incident and refused to leave his upstairs bedroom, according to news releases from the police and fire departments.<\/p>\n

When Rodriguez stopped responding to officers\u2019 requests to leave the bedroom, they put on respirator masks, entered the bedroom and found him unconscious, court records say. Then, they carried Rodriguez out of the home, according to the affidavit of probable cause. The court record lays out evidence and witness testimony against a defendant.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez and the two officers who rescued him were all injured and taken to an area hospital for treatment. Court records indicate one officer suffered smoke inhalation while the other suffered burns to the nostrils and back of the throat. <\/p>\n

Allentown Assistant Chief of Police James Gress said Rodriguez recovered from his injuries.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez\u2019s girlfriend told police she had a dispute with Rodriguez around midnight where he allegedly accused a relative of stealing his shoes.<\/p>\n

She left the home, and when she called Rodriguez just before 11:30 a.m. Friday, he allegedly threatened if she wasn\u2019t home by 4 p.m., he would \u201cburn the house down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez continued to text the woman multiple times, threatening to \u201cburn the house down,\u201d and made comments about not being afraid to die, court records state.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez then allegedly called the victim via Facetime, where she saw him light something on fire and drop it, court records state. Once the call was disconnected, the victim saw smoke coming from the home, city police said.<\/p>\n

The house has since been deemed uninhabitable by city fire officials. Cristina Maisel, regional communications manager for the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania Region, said the organization\u2019s Disaster Team is helping three people with shelter and other needs.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez is due back in court for a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Friday before Heffelfinger. A judge will then determine if there\u2019s sufficient evidence to send the case toward trial at the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A drunken man is accused of barricading himself inside an Allentown home and setting it on fire during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-67794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}