Tag Archives: arson

Philadelphia’s NBC affiliate reports: A teenager is accused of sparking the massive wildfire that continues to burn in Ocean County, New Jersey. Joseph Kling, 19, of Ocean Township (Waretown) was arrested and charged with aggravated arson and arson, officials announced on Thursday, April 24. “We are confident that he intentionally set a fire,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said during …

CNN reports: Pennsylvania State Police have charged a Harrisburg man they say broke into Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence early Sunday and started a fire while Shapiro and his family were sleeping. Shapiro, his wife Lori, their four children, two dogs and another family were forced to evacuate from the home, which was significantly damaged by the fire. There were no …

USA Today reports: A person was taken into custody in connection with a suspected arson attack that caused a “significant amount of damage” to the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro, authorities said, hours after the Pennsylvania lawmaker’s family celebrated the start of Passover. Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, was arrested on April 13, Col. Christopher Paris, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner, …

Penn Live reports: Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were evacuated without incident from the Governor’s Residence early Sunday morning after what state police say was an arson fire at the house. Shapiro said he and his family were awakened by “bangs on the door” from state police troopers. “The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire was on the scene and while …

The Albuquerque Journal reports: The Republican Party of New Mexico’s entryway was destroyed by what party chairwoman Amy Barela described as a “deliberate act of arson” in a news release Sunday morning. It is unclear if there are any suspects. “This horrific attack, fueled by hatred and intolerance, is a direct assault on our values, freedoms, and our right to …

Monterrey’s ABC affiliate reports: Santa Cruz police said they arrested a man believed to have set fire and who carved a homophobic slur at a newly opened LGBTQ+ pub. 45-year-old James Eason was arrested and booked into Santa Cruz County Jail for a hate crime, arson and vandalism. He was already in police custody for an unrelated crime, said police …

The Associated Press reports: Incendiary devices were set off Monday at two ballot drop boxes — one in Portland and another in nearby Vancouver, Washington — destroying hundreds of ballots in what one official called a “direct attack on democracy” about a week before a heated Election Day. The early morning fire at the drop box in Portland was extinguished …

Portland’s ABC affiliate reports: KATU was on the scene at Fisher’s Landing Transit Center in Vancouver early Monday morning, where heavy smoke was seen coming from inside a dropoff ballot box. Our photographer captured grey smoke steadily billowing out of the Park and Ride ballot box at Fisher’s Landing Transit Center near Southeast 162nd Avenue just after 6 a.m. Multiple …

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: Prosecutors said the arson suspect charged with igniting the massive Line Fire in San Bernardino County tried to set off two other blazes on the same day. Norco resident Justin Wayne Halstenberg, 34, is accused of deliberately igniting the Line Fire on Sept. 5 near Baseline Road in Highland. He now faces nine felony charges …

ABC News reports: A Northern California wildland fire that exploded overnight into the state’s largest blaze this wildfire season, destroying structures and prompting thousands of evacuations, was allegedly started by a man who pushed a burning car into a gully, authorities said Thursday. The 48-year-old arson suspect linked to starting the Park Fire in Butte County near the city of …

From the Justice Department: Michael Soghomonian, 35, previously of Northridge, California was arrested on April 7, 2024, pursuant to a federal criminal complaint charging him with using fire to damage the building at One Church Street in Burlington, Vermont – a building used in interstate commerce and as a place of activity affecting interstate commerce. According to court records, Soghomonian …

The Associated Press reports: Police in Vermont are seeking a suspect who allegedly started a fire Friday outside the office of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. The small blaze caused minor damages but no injuries. Authorities say an unknown male suspect sprayed what they described as a possible accelerant on the office door, set it on fire and fled. They said …

The Associated Press reports: A judge has ordered a woman who set fire to Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, the full amount sought by prosecutors. Lorna Green is serving five years in prison for burning Wellspring Health Access weeks before the clinic was set to open in Casper in 2022. The fire gutted the …

The New York Times reports: Bystanders stopped a 26-year-old woman from setting fire to the home where Martin Luther King Jr. was born after she poured gasoline on it, the authorities said. Two visitors from Utah interrupted the woman as she was pouring gasoline on the porch and on the door of the home, Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta police chief, …

Tulsa World reports: A Tulsa man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to attempting to burn down a Brookside business after it hosted an event with drag queens. Coby Dale Green, 24, will serve five years in prison after admitting he violated the law regarding the malicious use of explosive materials when he threw a Molotov cocktail into the business, …

Tucson’s CBS affiliate reports: Federal court documents paint Eric Ridenour, the suspect in the Douglas church fires, as a man with a violent criminal history who doesn’t like women or gay men preaching. Authorities have said Ridenour set fires at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and First Presbyterian Church in Douglas on May 22, 2023. Both buildings were extensively damaged. St. …

The New York Post reports: The woman accused of setting a pride flag on fire outside a Manhattan restaurant sparked chaos in court Wednesday, repeatedly shouting during her first appearance before a judge. Angelina Cando, 35, interrupted the proceeding in Manhattan Criminal Court several times as prosecutors accused her of going on a vandalizing spree over the weekend that included …

The New York Daily News reports: The woman caught on video burning a gay pride rainbow flag outside a SoHo restaurant has been nabbed, police said Wednesday. Angelina Cando, 30, was busted Tuesday — her third arrest in less than a month — and charged with arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, all as hate crimes. The ponytailed Cando was …

Vice News reports: Two men set themselves on fire after dumping an accelerant on a California immigration services building and setting it ablaze, video shows. On Monday night, a Ring surveillance camera captured two men dressed in black with masks covering their faces walking up to Servicio de Immigracion in Bakersfield, California. The two men proceed to dump the accelerant …

From the Justice Department: A Brooklyn Center man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud after filing fraudulent insurance claims for a staged arson, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger. According to court documents, on September 23, 2020, Denis Vladmirovich Molla, 30, falsely reported to law enforcement that someone had lit his camper on fire and that three unknown males were …