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In Carroll County, Wesley England, 33, was arrested and faces multiple charges after admitting to setting four fires in less than eight hours in Hampstead on Wednesday, June 29, the sheriff’s office announced.
The investigation into the fires led members of the Hampstead Police and investigators with the Deputy State Fire Marshal to identify Wesley as a suspect, and he was arrested minutes after he was found walking from the last of the fires he allegedly set.
At approximately 4:30 p.m. on June 29, investigators were first advised by a passerby of a fire in the rear of Wendy’s located in the 4200 block of North Woods Trail, officials said. At nearly the same time, two other fires were discovered.
Those fires were reported by an off-duty Baltimore County police officer regarding a trash can that was on fire in front of the H&R Block in the Robert's Field Shopping Center, as well as grass and pine needles in the area of Crystal Court that went up in flames, the sheriff’s office said.
Officers canvased the area, according to investigators, and residents and witnesses “all described a person they believed was a (woman) walking away from the area of the fires.”
At the same time, investigators continued their investigation into the evening hours.
Shortly after 11:30 p.m. on June 29, the Hampstead Volunteer Fire Company responded to a fourth fire involving a camper trailer that was reported to be on fire in the 4600 block of Upper Beckleysville Road, according to the sheriff’s office. It also was reported that a person went inside the home on the property without permission.
Members from the Hampstead Police Department responded to the trailer and observed England, who matched the earlier description in the area of Indian Court, investigators noted.
When officers told England he was seen at the earlier fires, the arsonist admitted he had set all four fires.
Investigators later concluded that the camper trailer was a total loss, officials noted.
England was taken into custody without incident and charged with:
- Second-degree arson;
- First-degree malicious burning;
- Second-degree malicious burning;
- Malicious destruction of property over $1,000;
- Malicious destruction of property under $1,000;
- Arson of a trash container;
- Fourth-degree burglary.
England is being held without bail at the Carroll County Detention Center. No return court date has been announced.
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