WARNER ROBINS — Police have charged a Middle Georgia man with arson in a house fire that left his mother dead.
Warner Robins police on Monday said they had arrested 28-year-old Spencer Bentley Brooks for first-degree arson. Firefighters responded to the blaze about 1 a.m. Sunday to the home about half a mile north of Russell Parkway and east of Corder Road. They found Lisa Rebecca Brooks, 57, dead upon arrival.
Police in an earlier statement on Sunday said “a preliminary investigation suggests the blaze is an arson” but did not describe Spencer Brooks’ alleged role in the fire. Investigators said Monday that Brooks was jailed after being medically evaluated. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer representing him.
The Telegraph of Macon reported Spencer Brooks was paroled last month, according to Georgia prison records, after serving part of a 15-year sentence for aggravated battery and shoplifting convictions related to 2017 crimes in Houston County. Brooks was also serving a concurrent sentence for convictions in Wilcox County for June 2018 crimes that include gun possession, burglary and theft.
He was released from Screven County Correctional Institution on Dec. 7 after serving a portion of a 15-year sentence for aggravated battery and shoplifting convictions in Houston County, for the crimes he was convicted of in 2017.
