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Bounty Put On Central Fla. Wildfire Arsonist

200 Leads Checked By New Task Force

POSTED: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
UPDATED: 4:41 pm EDT May 18, 2008

Homemade "Dead-Or-Alive" wanted posters appeared in Central Florida offering a reward for an arsonist believed responsible for a series of fires that destroyed or damaged dozens of homes last week.


IMAGES: Wanted: Dead Or Alive

The reward poster says, "Wanted: Palm Bay/Malabar Arsonist, May 11 and 12."

There is a reward offered for the person dead or alive -- no questions asked.

Local 6 anchor Bob Frier said many residents in Palm Bay are angry and frustrated over the fires.

Angry Mobs Concern Police

Sheriff's deputies also tightened security at the Brevard County Jail after the arrest of a man suspected of possibly starting the Palm Bay fires.


RELATED: 'Wildfire' Mobs Concern Police

Brian Crowder, 31, will be charged with one count of unlawful burning of land for a brush fire that was started Wednesday and will be charged with another count of unlawful burning of land after he tried to light fires while fleeing police during a chase, police said.

Deputies did not allow people to park near the entrance of the Brevard County Jail Thursday because of the potential of citizens coming and potentially mobbing Crowder while being escorted by officers.

The security comes after some homeowners expressed anger after hearing that one person may be responsible for a majority of 12 Palm Bay fires.

Good Samaritan Matt Samaco said he wanted to get a hold of Crowder after seeing him allegedly trying to start a fire and choke him out.

"I wanted to do what everyone else in Palm Bay wanted to do and put him down," Samaco said. It's a good thing that (police) caught him and I didn't. Let's leave it at that."

Mom-Son Relationship Checked

A strained mother-son relationship could be significant in the investigation into a series of arson-sparked wildfires set on Mother's Day, a police chief said.

"It was Mother's Day that this occurred," Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger said. "There's been some tension between (suspect Brian Crowder) and his mother. This could've been significant. We're looking at that aspect of it."

Crowder was arrested Wednesday on suspicion he lobbed a Molotov cocktail into some woods and was considered a suspect in Sunday's wildfires that destroyed more than 20 homes and caused $10 million in damages.

Crowder said he may have accidentally started the fire with a cigarette and has denied knowledge of earlier fires.

Berger said Crowder is no longer talking or being cooperative with investigators.

Hundreds Of Leads Checked

Meanwhile, four task-force teams are interviewing people with specific cases of arson in their history, Berger said Thursday.

"We have several databases we are running for these folks, both juvenile and adult," Berger said.

Investigators have received more than 200 leads and the investigation continues, according to Berger.

Mom's Call Leads To Arrest

Police said a woman and her son are being credited with initiating the police manhunt that led to Crowder's capture.

The woman made the 911 call at 4:18 a.m. Wednesday.

"On the Internet and my 19-year-old son was getting ready to take the trash out," a caller told a 911 dispatcher. "He says he saw a black car go down our street or something and throw something in the woods, catching the woods on fire by our house."

"Your son saw this?" a 911 dispatcher said.

"I see it. I see it. You see orange right here in the middle. We're on Alvarado Avenue," the woman said.

After the call, Good Samaritan Matt Samaco said he also spotted the man police identified as Crowder starting a fire near his property.

"I saw (the man) and he was squatted down by the sign and he had a long wire and was trying to light a fire," Samaco said. "That's when I said, 'Hey, S.O.B.' He then got up and hauled butt. I kicked my gate open and chased him up through his woods."

Police with K-9s eventually captured Crowder near Southwest Middle School, located at 451 Eldron Blvd. S.E.

Crowder was transported to the Brevard County Jail Thursday where he talked to Local 6.

"I believe I accidentally may have, may have started (it) by tossing a cigarette out the door," Crowder said.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

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