A team of Prince George’s County fire investigators has received the department’s highest award for closing a six-month investigation into a serial arsonist, a department spokesman said.
Between March and August 2007, nine fires were set at the Springhill Lake apartment complex in Greenbelt. After county fire investigators determined the fires were connected, they formed a task force along with state and federal officials.
The investigation eventually led to the arrest and conviction of 26-year-old Jeremiah Christopher Jones. He has been sentenced to eight years in prison for setting the fires which caused $2 million in damage.
Prosecutors said Jones was trying to cause as much damage as possible. When he set the fires, he did it in concealed spaces near wires and other flammable materials that would quickly burn and spread the flames as far as possible. Jones admitted that he also set fire to at least three vehicles, a motorcycle, several trash containers and some bushes.
Acting Prince George’s Fire Chief Eugene A. Jones presented the award to the unit last week.
“The professionalism and unrelenting commitment you displayed while serving as a member of the Serial Arson Task Force were outstanding,” Jones said.
“You worked diligently alongside your fellow task force members, in an effort to apprehend the person responsible for using fire as a weapon to terrorize a community.”
