Pa. Woman Faces Sentence for Arsonist’s Alibi

A western Pennsylvania woman is set for sentencing on charges that she provided a false alibi for a man later convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for setting fire to his home and an attached business in rural western Pennsylvania.

Christina Johnson is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Pittsburgh Wednesday in the case involving her friend, 56-year-old William Russell, of Waterman.

He was sentenced earlier this year for collecting more than $120,000 from insurance after setting fire to his home on Route 259 in Brush Valley, Indiana County, on Aug. 29, 2009. The fire also damaged the Korner Market, a general store attached to Russell’s home.

Johnson pleaded guilty in June to being an accessory after the fact because prosecutors say she lied that Russell was elsewhere when the fire was set.