Campground Operator Pleads No Contest, Gets 7 Years Probation For Torching Premises After Elderly, Mortgage-Holding Prior Owners Begin Foreclosure

In Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, WNEP-TV Channel 16 reports:

• A woman was sentenced in Susquehanna County on Thursday, accused of setting several fires at a campground. Tamara Santarelli, formerly of Wilkes-Barre and now living in New York, was sentenced to seven years probation. She will also have to pay back nearly $100,000 to insurance companies, money that was paid out after two fires at the Shady Rest Campground near Gibson.

• The couple who used to own the campground and sold it to Santarelli said they were just glad the ordeal is over and that they were able to get that property back. [...] Arnold and Alice Manning owned the Shady Rest Campground and sold it to Tammy Santarelli and her husband, even financing the property for them.

• The Mannings said after the Santarelli's failed to make mortgage payments, they had started the foreclosure process. That was when the second fire nearly destroyed their decades of hard work. "We've been married for 60 years and we've worked together hard for all of our lives for what we have and it just seems a shame that people like Tamara can scam away from you what you've worked all your life for," said Alice Manning. "We trusted these people. We figured they were all right and it didn't take long," added Arnold Manning.

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• As part of Tammy Santarelli's plea agreement, she handed over the deed to the Shady Rest Campground, giving it back to Arnold and Alice Manning. The Mannings said they now plan to keep the campground in the family.

For the story, see Owner Sentenced for Campground Arson.