Sentencings for two major cases in Indiana County were held today in court.
63-year-old David Yingling of Arcadia was sentenced to serve 17-and-a-half to 35 years in state prison for his guilty plea to a charge of third degree murder in the shooting death of his 50-year-old roommate Elwood Skillman last May at a home along Arcadia Road in Montgomery Township. Skillman was shot with both a rifle and a shotgun as he slept and his body was left lying in its bed for several days before police arrived, having been tipped off that the shooting happened. Yingling told investigators he shot Skillman because the victim had bullied Yingling’s mentally disabled younger brother, who also lived in the home. Yingling pleaded guilty in January after going through a mental evaluation to determine his competency to stand trial.
Also sentenced today was 20-year-old Aaron Liggett, who pleaded guilty to five charges connected with five fires in the Center Township area, including the fire that destroyed the Coral post office on March 25th of last year. The total damage in the five fires was over $400,000. He had faced a total of 50 criminal offenses, 26 of them felonies, but pleaded guilty to a single count of each of the five fires, and the remaining charges were not prosecuted.
For the fires set along Luciousboro Road, Murray Avenue and English Lane, Liggett was sentenced to 1 month to 4 years in state prison, and ordered to pay costs of $321 in each case for charges of misdemeanor failure to control. For a fire in a mobile home along Timberland Drive eight days before the post-office fire, he was sentenced to 2-8 years in state prison for a felony arson charge. And for the Post-Office fire, he was sentenced to 1-8 years in State prison for a felony charge of Arson Endangering property-reckless endangerment of an inhabited building. The sentences will run concurrently. He will also pay over $1700 in court costs.
