NYT: Pvt Guard at (MD) Home Site Is Charged With Arson (not ecoterrorism)

[DeepModem Mom]

Private Guard at Home Site Is Charged With Arson
By GARY GATELY

Published: December 17, 2004


BALTIMORE, Dec. 16 - A 21-year-old security guard who worked at a new subdivision in southern Maryland was arrested Thursday and charged with setting fires to houses there in the worst case of residential arson in the state's history, federal authorities said.

The guard, Aaron L. Speed of Waldorf, Md., was arrested at his home not far from the Hunters Brooke subdivision in Indian Head, where blazes set early on Dec. 6 caused some $10 million in damage, destroying 10 houses in various stages of construction and damaging 16 others....

***
Local opponents had joined environmental groups in lawsuits intended to block construction of the Hunters Brooke development, about 25 miles south of Washington in an area once dominated by tobacco fields. The subdivision sits near an environmentally sensitive bog, which had led to speculation that environmental extremists may have set the fires....

***

The arrest of Mr. Speed helped allay concerns that ecoterrorists had set the fires, said Eugene T. Lauer, the Charles County administrator.

"No question about it, it's a relief they caught someone," Mr. Lauer said. "I think it'll bring some closure, hopefully, to people who were going to live in that neighborhood and to the county. It's definitely a relief if it's not related to ecoterrorism."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/national/17arson.html

[displacedtexan]

1. Did you see Speed on the news this morning?

ABC News Channel 12 showed him proclaiming his innocence and saying that he would take a polygraph today.

His foster mother said he had anger management problems.

Speed sounded convincing to me. If he's lying, he's very good at it.

The first thing I thought of after those fires was, of course, an inside job-- maybe an insurance scam-- because I so distrust megalodevelopers.

[AliciaKeyedUp]

2. Motive and Opportunity

I said it before, he had both. Motive: Angry at bosses. Opportunity: Security Guard.

Add to it, if the article is correct, he's a bit unhinged at the moment.

[puddycat]

3. Security guards have been wrongly charged before (think Olympics)

Frankly, I have my doubts that he is guilty. I think the government felt a big pressure to charge somebody, and this poor guy was their scapegoat.

[NashVegas]

4. duplicate story - locking

discuss here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1078336