Thursday, April 11, 2013
The suspect is accused of starting a fire outside of an apartment on Contee Road.
Prince George's County officials say a juvenile was arrested and charged with arson Thursday after a doormat was set on fire in South Laurel earlier this week. The teenager, whose name has not been released, is not considered a suspect in the recent series of suspicious fires across the Laurel area, according to a statement from the Prince George's County Fire Department. Authorities said the incident occurred on Tuesday around 10:20 p.m. when a doormat was intentionally set on fire outside of a first floor apartment in the 8700 block of Contee Road. According to the PGFD, Prince George's County Police stopped an individual the next day "believed to have been connected to a vandalism complaint that occurred in the same area of the fires." …
Monday, April 8, 2013
A 25-year-old Columbia man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly setting fire to a building on Harpers Farm Road in Columbia.
Howard County Police charged a 25-year-old Columbia man with assault and malicious burning after he allegedly set fire to an apartment on Harpers Farm Road Friday night while police were investigating an assault. Police arrested Alejandro Adolfo Rodriguez, of the 5300 block of Harpers Farm Road, around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday after officers searching for him saw him walking on Eliots Oak Road in Columbia. He was arrested without incident, according to police. Police said when they arrived at the Harpers Farm Road residence Friday to investigate a reported assault, Rodriguez yelled obscenities at officers from a second-story window. Shortly after, a fire could be seen in the building, according to police. Rodriguez fled out of a rear window …
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The city is now offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Authorities have expanded their investigation into a series of recent fires across Laurel and are now offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, officials said Thursday. Speaking from a lectern at the Laurel Police Department, city and county investigators said that a total of seven fires are now included in the probe. The incidents are responsible for an estimated $600,000 of damage in all. Officials said two fires—the March 3 and March 11 fires that destroyed playgrounds at Discovery Community Park and Emancipation Community Park, respectively—were found to have key similarities. The remaining five fires remain "incidents of interest," authorities said. They include: (View a map of the incidents in the gallery at …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The city council supported motions to restore Discovery Park and to set aside a specific amount for Emancipation Community Park, which both experienced fire damages this month.
The Laurel City Council approved costs to fix and reinstall playground equipment at Discovery Park at its March 11 meeting. But upon the sudden announcement of still another fire at Emancipation Park just hours before the meeting convened, the council had to address the cost of fixing damages there as well. The cost to knock down Discovery Park is $19,000 while the cost to rebuild the park with play equipment is $135,000, according to a memo from Mike Lhotsky, Director of Parks and Recreation. In anticipating the cost needed to rebuild Emancipation, the council decided to allocate up to $20,000 for damages. But the price of removing destroyed equipment is uncertain. Lhotsky believes evaluating the damages at Emancipation Park will be a …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The school district plans to continue its project on a student-built home that broke out in fire.
Prince George's County Public Schools are "saddened and disappointed" by what appears to be an intentional fire at one of its student-built homes in Clinton, MD, spokesman Briant Coleman said. Two fires occurred in the same neighborhood within a week and have been ruled "suspicious" by the Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department. One of the homes was no longer owned by the school system. "We sold it," said Coleman. As for the other home, he said, the work will go on. "Our students have been working extremely hard on this project, and we will continue to work closely with the Foundation for Applied Construction Technology for Students (FACTS) Board of Directors to ensure the project moves forward in spite of this devastating setback," …
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Police are offering a reward for leads.
Laurel police said Tuesday they are still looking for the person who set Laurel Deputy Administrator Martin Flemion’s car on fire over Memorial Day weekend. No one has been charged in the incident, which is being investigated by Laurel police and the Prince George’s County Office of the Fire Marshal. Police said Flemion's 2008 Saturn VUE had been doused with gasoline and set ablaze. His city vehicle, an SUV, was also doused in gasoline, but was not set on fire, police said. “What appears [to have] happened—when the subject lit the car, he also became engulfed in flames,” said Laurel Police Chief Richard McLaughlin. “He may be suffering burns.” Flemion told Explorehoward.com that the incident happened at his home around 1:45 a.m. May 28. A …
Red White and Blue
10:51 am on Friday, April 12, 2013
Great job officers!!! all of us have to help find the person or persons that burnt or playgrounds, I would think the police should go to all of the schools in the laurel area for a assembly and stress to the students that one of them could get $10,000.00 for information as to who or whom did it, bet it would be solved pretty quick more ›