Trial ordered for man accused of threatening to shoot woman and burn down her home

An Allegheny Township man accused of causing a woman to flee her apartment in fear after he ignited a torch and threatened to set the place on fire has been ordered to stand trial in Armstrong County Court.

Paul Joseph Best II, 37, of Bourbon Hill Lane also is accused of holding a gun to the woman’s head and threatening to kill her.

Best was charged July 18 by Leechburg police with two counts each of making terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, simple assault and harassment. He also was issued four citations for harassment. He was released from custody on a $5,000 unsecured bond.

Best waived his right to a preliminary hearing Sept. 7 before District Judge James Andring, who ordered him to stand trial on the charges. A date for a preliminary arraignment has not yet been scheduled.

Police wrote in a June 26 criminal complaint that a woman reported to officers that Best was drunk at her apartment in Leechburg and came up to her with a handgun behind his back, put it up to her head and asked three times: “Do you want me to shoot you?”

The woman told an officer who responded to the scene she tried to push Best out of the home, but he refused to leave and went to a bedroom with the handgun, the complaint said.

She told police she didn’t want Best to go to jail and would not testify against him in court, the complaint said. The officer confiscated a revolver and took Best back to his home in Allegheny Township, according to the complaint.

On July 17, the woman reported to police that Best, while drunk, returned to her home with a “blue torch,” ignited it and told her he was going to set the apartment on fire, the complaint said.

A blue torch is a large butane lighter that produces a high-intensity flame used for camping, cooking and crafts.

The woman told police she was able to get the torch away from Best and hide it before packing some clothing and leaving, police said. She told police she was “afraid of what Paul might do,” according to the complaint.

Police filed charges against Best and obtained a protection from abuse order for him to stay away from the woman, the complaint said.