Saying they were a danger to society, a Douglas County magistrate judge Wednesday denied bond for three of four suspects arrested in connection with the fire earlier this month that destroyed a historic mill in Douglasville, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Jeromie Hand, 17, of Douglasville, Terry Carringer, 18, of Hiram, and Adrian Bond, 18, of Shelbyville, Tenn., will continue to be held in Douglas County jail on arson, criminal damage to property, burglary and damage to government property charges.
A fourth defendant in the case, Christopher Roberts, 20, was charged with criminal damage to property (an earlier report that he faced all of the same charges as the others was incorrect).
At the Wednesday morning bond hearing, Chief Magistrate Judge Susan S. Camp granted Roberts a bond of $3,500 and ordered him to seek substance abuse counseling, stay away from vacant buildings and have a curfew of 9 p.m.
Carringer’s mother, Gina Carringer, was in court Wednesday and spoke to Channel 2.
“I apologize. God, I do apologize for what happened. But I assure you, he’s a wonderful child,” she said. “He's got a good heart. He's not out to hurt or harm anyone. ... He didn't do this with malice or anything, just caught up with the wrong crowd."
The May 12 blaze destroyed the General Western Cotton Mill on East Broad Street (Bankhead Highway). The old mill had been vacant for decades and was owned by the city of Douglasville.
The four suspects were in the mill the afternoon of May 11, according to Sgt. John Sweat of the major crimes unit of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
“They were huffing air dusters – the stuff you clean your [computer] keyboards with – and were lighting small fires throughout the mill,” Sweat said. “It appears one of the fires smoldered enough to end up reigniting itself later in the evening as the wind picked up.”
Douglas County Sheriff Phil Miller told Channel 2 that two of the suspects told detectives they did not plan to burn down the building, but that was what happened to the 1897 building.
“Supposedly, they came back [to] the fire, and one of them made the comment on video he has on his phone that it’s the best bonfire ever built,” Miller said.
Firefighters arrived to find the structure engulfed, with flames shooting through the roof. The blaze was brought under control, but the ruins smoldered for days afterward.
From the beginning, investigators considered the fire suspicious.
Sweat said investigators were led to the four suspects when “somebody overhead one of them talking” and used Facebook to tip off Douglasville Police Chief Chris Womack.
The investigation was led by the Douglas County Fire Department and involved the Douglas Sheriff’s Office, Douglasville Police Department, federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a Gwinnett County arson investigator who volunteered to assist the inquiry.
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