Tag Archives: arson

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 …

Minneapolis’s CBS affiliate reports: A Brooklyn Center man faces federal charges after he lit his own camper on fire to make it look like a politically-motivated crime, and then allegedly filed several fraudulent insurance claims. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Denis Vladmirovich Molla, 29, is charged with two counts of wire fraud in connection with the fire that took place …

Baltimore’s CBS News affiliate reports: A Wednesday morning fire in Baltimore that put three people in the hospital is being investigated as a possible hate crime, authorities told WJZ. Based on a preliminary investigation, authorities believe someone set fire to at least one Pride flag outside a row home in the 300 block of E. 31st Street and the flames …

Boston’s ABC News affiliate reports: A Massachusetts man is facing multiple charges as he stands accused of intentionally setting a fire at the Satanic Temple in Salem. Salem police said 42-year-old Daniel Damien Lucey, of Chelsea, was arrested late Friday night after a fire was reported at the temple on Bridge Street. According to police, they received numerous 911 calls …

The Associated Press reports: Vandals struck an anti-abortion group office, where a fire broke out and a Molotov cocktail was found, authorities said Sunday. Madison police spokeswoman Stephanie Fryer told the Wisconsin State Journal that the fire reported shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday at the Wisconsin Family Action office in Madison was suspicious in nature. He said someone also spray-painted …

From the Justice Department: A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging John Lhota with the April 3, 2022 arson of Rash, a bar and nightclub in Bushwick frequented by members of the LGBTQ+ community. Lhota was arrested yesterday and will make his initial appearance this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann. Breon …

NBC New York reports: A Brooklyn bar that was quickly becoming a mainstay for the LGBTQ+ community after being in business for just a few months is now closed after police said someone used a canister of gasoline to set it on fire. Everything inside Bushwick’s Rash Bar was left unrecognizable and torched, after it took just 30 seconds to …

The Associated Press reports: Always remember to tip your server, if you know what’s good for you. A tourist made a big impression in a Key West bar by ordering drinks three times on New Year’s Eve without leaving a tip. That enabled the staff to easily track him down after police released webcam video showing vandals setting fire to …

Knoxville’s ABC News affiliate reports: Investigators with the Knoxville Fire Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), have determined that the fire at the Planned Parenthood in Knoxville was purposely set. The KFD says the individual or individuals who started the fire have not been identified yet. The fire took place on Dec. 31 at around 6:39 …

Reuters reports: A fire at the South African parliament caused extensive damage on Sunday, collapsing the roof and gutting an entire floor in one building and a man in his 50s was arrested in connection with the blaze. The fire broke out in the early morning and authorities said the sprinkler system appeared to have been tampered with and so …

The Miami Herald reports: In the early hours of New Year’s Day, two people vandalized Key West’s famous Southernmost Point buoy landmark by setting a fire right beside it. The blaze left a large part of the colorful giant buoy — right where it reads “90 miles to Cuba, Southernmost Point, Continental U.S.A.” — charred. There was “extensive damage” to …