Molotov Mayhem: Couple Charged in Grocery Store Arson Plot

A federal grand jury has indicted a local couple in connection with a conspiracy to damage a Spring Grove Village grocery store with an incendiary device in the style of a Molotov cocktail.

Donald Donatelli, 28, and Angela Schweitzer, 35, are both charged with conspiring to commit malicious damage and destruction of a building in interstate commerce. Donatelli is also charged in a second count of directly causing the damage.

The alleged arson occurred around 10pm on Nov. 26, when Donatelli allegedly threw an incendiary device into the store. The store’s owner and his wife were inside the store at the time.

According to an affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint, Donatelli and Schweitzer arrived at the store together in a white BMW. It is alleged that Schweitzer moved to the driver’s seat while Donatelli lit the device, opened the store’s door and threw it inside.

Conspiring to commit malicious damage and destruction of a building, and the act of doing so, are federal crimes punishable by at least five and up to 20 years in prison.

Donatelli and Schweitzer were originally arrested on local charges and have been moved to federal custody. Their federal case was unsealed today.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Daryl S. McCormick, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), announced the charges and acknowledged the assistance of the Cincinnati Fire Department, Cincinnati Police Department, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and Union Township Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorneys Megan Gaffney Painter and Julie D. Garcia are representing the United States in this case.

An indictment merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.