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Man charged with arson accused of torching stores, side of police station

2023-09-23 00:00:00.0 华盛顿邮报-华盛顿特区原网页

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A Maryland man is facing six counts of arson after investigators say he set fire to five buildings and a car over several hours in central Gaithersburg this week, causing more than $1 million in damage.

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Fernando Herrera-Rivera, 23, was being held Friday in the Montgomery County jail without bond. An attorney for him could not immediately be reached for comment.

After Herrera-Rivera was arrested on Sunday morning, he suggested others had put him up to at least one of the burnings, authorities said. “He stated his ‘abductors’ shot the window with a sniper rifle and made him go inside,” investigators wrote in an affidavit supporting the arson counts. “He stated there was smoke inside the store and then he left.”

Officials do not believe others were involved. They say Herrera-Rivera was found carrying 20 lighters matching those found at two of the fire scenes, and he had “blisters resembling those of burns” on his palms, according to court records.

Investigators indicated that before a setting fire at a beer and wine store, Herrera-Rivera broke into a nearby van to steal a gas can. They also accused him of torching a Toyota Camry by stuffing newspapers under it and lighting them. And Herrera-Rivera set fire to outdoor siding of the Gaithersburg Police Department, authorities charge, but no officers were inside at the time because they had responded to another of his fires a half-mile away.

Many of Herrera-Rivera’s movements, authorities said, were captured by surveillance cameras.

One firefighter responding to the blazes — all within a mile of each other — suffered an orthopedic injury, said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire Department. No civilians were injured as Herrera-Rivera’s targets in central Gaithersburg were empty in the hours around 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Sunday, he said.

“Fortunately — because of the time of the day and these buildings being unoccupied — no civilians were put in direct danger,” Piringer said.

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But he noted that fire is unpredictable and the blazes could have become more threatening had they spread farther.

The blazes on Sunday included two in the 400 block of South Frederick Avenue — one in the Dock of the Bay beer and wine store and another two doors down at El Salvadoreno Latin Market. While the blazes were close, investigators termed them “noncommunicating fires” and described them as being separately ignited.

The owner of El Salvadoreno Latin Market declined to comment on the arrest. Officer Dan Lane, a spokesman for the Gaithersburg Police Department, said, “We are grateful that the damage to our building was minor and are thankful that no citizens were injured at any of the arson locations.”

“Both businesses had evidence of being broken into as their glass door fronts were smashed and broken by landscaping rocks nearby,” Capt. Andrew Gettig of the Montgomery County Fire Department wrote in court papers. “Inside the Dock of the Bay Beer and Wine Store was a half-burnt, 2-1/2 gallon red gas can positioned on the floor a few feet from the main entrance.”

A white van parked nearby, investigators added, had been broken into — and was missing one of its two gas cans.

While firefighters were on the scene of those two fires, a 911 call came in about a blaze at 14 Fulks Corner Ave., which houses the Gaithersburg Police Department. Firefighters were able to extinguish a fire on outdoor siding.

Twelve minutes after that 911 call, a person reported that a car was on fire along Russell Avenue. Firefighters who went there found a second fire at a nearby building and determined it had started at an outdoor staircase. A business in the building — Taco Bar — was badly damaged, according to court papers.

By 3:37 a.m., patrol officers had a lookout description based on video surveillance and spotted a potential match along North Frederick Avenue. It was Herrera-Rivera, authorities say, and he was taken in for questioning. He spoke about his abductors, according to court records, and said he’d seen two of the other fires. At one of them, court records say, he spotted a man who looked like him stuffing newspapers under a car and lighting them.

As Herrera-Rivera was ending his interview with investigators, another fire was discovered — near the police station. In that case, the door to a utility substation was scorched but the fire didn’t go inside. Herrera-Rivera was ultimately charged with six counts of second-degree arson, according to court records.