Pa. man pleads guilty in fire that killed his mother

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — An eastern Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to accidentally starting a fire that killed his bedridden mother while he tried to get a cat to come out of hiding.

Chad Matthew Lever, 26, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Monday and was sentenced to two years’ probation. Lever told police he flicked a lighter under his mother’s bed to scare her cat up with her.

Lever says he was walking downstairs when he heard his mother, Lisa House, screaming. The 47-year-old woman had Lou Gehrig’s disease and could not walk without assistance.

House died on the way to a hospital from the Feb. 3 fire in Slatington.

Lehigh County First Assistant District Attorney Steven Luksa says Lever was grossly negligent but did not intend to kill his mother.