DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 3:18 p.m. November 26, 2008
Arson suspect’s bond set at $55,000
Jeffrey Tremaine Sprowl charged with setting one of 10 blazes believed to be arson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Bond was set at $55,000 Wednesday for a Stone Mountain man accused of setting at least one of 10 fires in a “bizarre” string of arsons Sunday and early Monday along and near Memorial Drive.
Jeffrey Tremaine Sprowl, 21, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree arson for allegedly starting a fire at an Enterprise Rent-a-Car store.
DeKalb County fire investigators and federal officials still are trying to piece together who deliberately set nine other blazes within hours of the car lot fire.
“It’s just bizarre,” DeKalb County fire Chief Dave Foster said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “Firefighters actually stopped to put out fires on their way to other fires.”
Between Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning, DeKalb responded to 11 fires along or near a 2-mile stretch of the Memorial Drive corridor outside I-285.
Investigators determined that a common accelerant was used to start all but one of those fires — the common thread of the arsons — but they would not say what the accelerant was.
Information about a car stolen from Venture Motors in the 6100 block of Memorial Drive led to Sprowl’s arrest, Foster said.
There also was a fire at Venture Motors, and the DeKalb Fire Rescue Department originally said Sprowl was charged with setting that blaze. On Wednesday, the department corrected itself, saying no charges had been filed in the Venture Motors fire.
The fire chief marveled at the swift arrest.
“Just 12 hours later, we’re sitting behind a car with him in it,” Foster said. “The fact that we were able to bring a suspect off the streets within 12 hours is remarkable.”
Authorities offered no information on why Sprowl might have set the fire at the car rental location.
Sprowl was taken in with two other individuals late Monday for questioning, but he was the only one charged, DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones said at the news conference. Jones cautioned against pinning all of the arsons on Sprowl, however.
“Three people were talked to … one was arrested,” Jones said. “It’s a little premature to say this man is linked to all of this.”
Authorities would not say what role, if any, the other two individuals played in the fires, nor whether they would be charged for any crime.
An 11th fire that occurred during the same time and near the deliberately started blazes was not an arson, DeKalb County fire spokesman Capt. Eric Jackson said. Salon Sida, at 903 Main St., seemed initially to fall into the pattern of fires, Jackson said.
Although DeKalb firefighters are accustomed to handling large numbers of fires in a similar span of time, the weekend’s spate stood out.
“I don’t think I recall having 10 arsons in a 12-hour period,” said state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who has been at his job for 14 years and estimated damage from this incident in the “millions of dollars.”
Anyone with information on the fires is asked to call 1-800-282-5804. Any information that leads to an arrest and conviction could earn up to a $10,000 reward.
— Staff writers Mike Morris. David Simpson and Christian Boone contributed to this article.
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