Narberth Doctor Pleads Guilty In Merion Arson Case, Gets Prison Time

NARBERTH, PA — A former Main Line doctor from Narberth will spend up to 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to arson, making terroristic threats, and more charges.

Dr. Amy Cohen, 36, of Narberth, pleaded guilty Wednesday to arson, terroristic threats, stalking, and recklessly endangering another person, court records show. Charges of attempted first-degree murder, risking catastrophe, aggravated assault ethnic intimidation, and others were dropped in court, according to records.

She was sentenced to 11 months to 23 months in prison.

The charges stem from an investigation that launched in Nov. 24, 2023.

An ex-boyfriend of Cohen began dating the 99-year-old victim's granddaughter. A threatening flyer with antisemitic language was left at the victim's home in Merion on Nov. 24, 2023, Lower Merion Police said. The flyer made specific references to the victim's granddaughters, who do not live with the victim.

Law & Crime reports the flyers alleged the granddaughters were Islamophobic in that they expressed support for Israel on social media, as well as called them "idiots" and "sluts."

Police later learned that similar flyers were found at homes of the victim's family members in Montgomery County and Philadelphia.

About a week later on Nov. 30, 2023, Lower Merion Police reviewed footage from one of the victim's family members, which showed a woman setting a fire at the front door of the victim's Merion home at about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 30. 2023. Police said the woman was seen on video trying to grow the flames by spraying it with a flammable liquid.

The fire burned out without engulfing the porch and home.

Evidence collected at the scene helped investigators identify a suspect who previously dated a boyfriend of the victim's granddaughter, police said. Police said that suspect was Cohen.

Law & Crime reports the boyfriend dated Cohen for about six months but ended the relationship, leaving Cohen "very emotional," before dating the victim's granddaughter.

Search warrants were obtained for Cohen, her home, and her vehicle, then executed Friday. Police said the searches revealed evidence connecting Cohen to all these incidents.

Lower Merion Police would not say where Cohen was employed, but a page on the Bryn Mawr Specialists Associates website listing Amy L. Cohen, D.O., as a staff member was removed from the website the day charges were announced.