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Man Held in White St. Arson Fire
Police allege accused narcotics dealer wanted revenge on customers
By Staff Reports
The Tube City Almanac
October 17, 2025
Posted in: Crime and Police News
A Duquesne Avenue man accused of setting fire to a home was allegedly targeting two people who owed him money for drugs, according to police — but those people were no longer living there.
Arthur “Bibbler” Franklin III, 32, also known as “Red,” is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond after a magisterial district judge said he represents a danger to the community. He faces a preliminary hearing Monday before Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi.
Franklin was apprehended Oct. 9 in the city’s Downtown area and now faces additional narcotics charges in connection with that arrest, according to court records.
McKeesport police allege that Franklin was angry at two people who he said owed him $200 for heroin, and that he had been making threats against their lives. In an affidavit of probable cause, police allege that Franklin told the two people that he was going to “burn them.”
Early on Sept. 3, police said, a White Street couple was awakened by the sound of loud popping noises on the first floor of their house, and found smoke and flames on the first floor.
The couple was able to escape from the two-story wood frame home, along with their pets. McKeesport firefighters arrived before 5 a.m. to extinguish the two-alarm blaze and the Allegheny County fire marshal was called.
According to the affidavit, the homeowners told police they had recently kicked out two people who had been staying with them, because the two people were suspected narcotics users.
The homeowners further stated that the two people who had been staying with them had been threatened by a man known as “Red,” who said they owed him money.
The affidavit states that McKeesport fire crews discovered an empty metal gasoline can near the home, where the fire began.
Police interviewed the two suspected narcotics users who had been living with the homeowners and confirmed that they had been threatened, according to the complaint. Police said they also obtained surveillance video from a nearby camera.
According to the affidavit, the video shows a man walk down Shaw Avenue toward the home on White Street, carrying a square metal can. The man appears to strike a lighter multiple times, and then, police said, as flames begin to spread, the man walks away, back toward Shaw Avenue.
Police said the man bears a physical resemblance to Franklin, according to the affidavit. Franklin declined to speak to police and a warrant was obtained for his arrest.
On the afternoon of Oct. 9, an officer on routine patrol observed Franklin walking on Lysle Boulevard near Huey Street and arrested him on the outstanding warrant.
According to court documents, when police searched Franklin, they found a large bag containing 21 rocks of suspected crack cocaine.
Franklin is charged by McKeesport police with possession of controlled substances and possession with intent to deliver in connection with the Oct. 9 arrest.
In connection with the Sept. 3 fire, McKeesport police charged Franklin with attempted homicide, aggravated arson, arson endangering persons, arson endangering property, making terroristic threats, criminal mischief and possessing instruments of crime.
He was arraigned in Allegheny County Night Court on Oct. 10 and denied bond, court documents indicate.
Originally published October 17, 2025.
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