Erie woman accused of setting fire to home released on $1 bail

Aug. 29--ERIE, Pa. -- A woman accused of setting her Erie house on fire for insurance money has been released on $1 bail after her lawyer filed a motion saying she had been incarcerated for too long.

The Erie County district attorney's office has asked a judge to reconsider releasing her.

Julia A. Calipo, 41, was charged in January with two counts of arson, one count of risking catastrophe, three counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of insurance fraud.

The charges were brought after investigators said Calipo set fire to her house at 235 E. 32nd St. on Feb. 18, 2015. The house was later torn down because of the damage. An investigation revealed the fire was set off by an aerosol can and cloth material found in the oven, according to the criminal complaint.

Calipo was arrested in Florida and brought to Erie after a lengthy investigation and has been held at the Erie County Prison since Feb. 1, according her criminal docket. She was being held on $50,000 bail.

Her lawyer, Michael Harmon, asked that Calipo be released on nominal bail in a motion filed Aug. 12. He cited a rule requiring that defendants be released if they have been incarcerated for more than 180 days after the criminal complaint is filed.

Erie County Judge Daniel Brabender granted the motion Aug. 15, and Calipo was released soon after, according to her criminal docket.

The district attorney's office filed a motion for reconsideration Thursday, stating Calipo had been incarcerated for more than 180 days because she repeatedly postponed her own court hearings.

Calipo has twice appeared at plea hearings on the charges, once without a lawyer, but has refused to plead and asked that her case be dismissed.

The district attorney's office in March withdrew all of Calipo's charges but one third-degree felony count of risking catastrophe and one first-degree misdemeanor count of insurance fraud, but did so with the understanding she would enter pleas to those two charges, a prosecutor said.

Calipo, who ran unsuccessfully for Erie City Council in 2011 and 2013 and for a seat on the Erie School Board in 2013, has also filed a lawsuit against the Erie County Prison in federal court. In her complaint, filed Aug. 1, she claimed to have been mistreated at the prison and called the charges against her "meritless."

"Jail has discriminated and harassed Plaintiff Julia Calipo for 6 months due in part to letters about illegal treatment," she wrote in her complaint.

Madeleine O'Neill can be reached at 870-1728 or by email. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNoneill.

___

(c)2016 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.)

Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at www.GoErie.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.