Montgomery County fire investigators say a car fire in Olney at the start of Arson Awareness Week appears to have been set intentionally.
Fire investigators charged Mark A. Tetter, 19, of Boonsboro, with arson, malicious burning and violating a court order in connection with the burning of his former girlfriend’s Saturn in Olney early Sunday morning.
Neighbors provided tips that led to Tetter, who formerly lived in Olney, said Fire and Rescue Department spokesman Pete Piringer.
No other property was damaged, but last year a similar fire destroyed 24 apartments in Germantown.
In the Dec. 18 incident, Roxana Venavides was charged with arson for allegedly lighting her boyfriend’s shorts on fire after an argument.
Arson poses “a serious threat to lives, property and natural resources in our rural and suburban communities,” Piringer said.
Arsonists in the past year have burned buses belonging to the French International School in Bethesda, Diamond Elementary School playground in Germantown and various cars and properties in and around the Aspen Hill neighborhood of Rockville.
