A 38-year-old Marietta man faces nine charges in connection with fires that struck three businesses within a block of each other early Monday morning in Marietta, authorities said.
Claude Leroy Brown has been charged with three counts each of first-degree arson, burglary and criminal attempt to commit burglary, according to Officer David Baldwin, spokesman for the Marietta Police Department.
Brown was being held without bond Tuesday in Cobb County Jail, Baldwin said.
The charges stem from the suspect's statement, witness statements and video and forensic evidence, Baldwin said.
The first two fires were reported before 1 a.m. in a pool supply store and beauty shop on Powder Springs Street, just north of Garrison Road. Both businesses had apparently been broken into, according to fire officials.
Marietta fire Commander Steve Ingram said concrete blocks had been thrown through windows of both businesses.
While fire crews were still on the scene of those fires around 4 a.m., a fire broke out in an automotive repair shop just a block down Powder Springs Street. Ingram said all three fires were “absolutely” suspicious.
The Aquarama store sustained "fairly minor" fire damage and the Pro Elegance Hair Studio next door was heavily damaged, Ingram said.
The third fire "pretty much totaled" Drivers Automotive, he said.
In addition to the three fires, the man is suspected of also trying to break into a Shell station across the street overnight, according to Marietta police. An attempt to break out a glass window was unsuccessful.
But just after daybreak, police discovered that a taco stand that sits about halfway between the automotive shop and the pool store had been broken into. A large rock had apparently been used to knock out a side window of the Taco Loco restaurant.
Baldwin said that police detained a man who was walking near one of the fires.
No injuries were reported in any of the fires.
Ingram said that the fact that someone would apparently set a third fire while crews were still on the scene of the first two is "scary. Luckily, no one's been hurt, that's the main thing."
Robby McClure, owner of Pro Elegance, told the AJC that he had no idea why anyone would want to burglarize and torch his salon.
"There's no money, nothing valuable in there," McClure said.
"I don't have any enemies," he said. "It's a Christian place. We help people, we feed people, it's a neighborhood place, a family environment in the shop."
Powder Springs Street, a heavily-traveled four-lane road, was shut down for much of the predawn hours, but was reopened just after 6 a.m.
Anyone with information on the case should call detectives at 770-794-5324 or the tip line at 770-794-6990.
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