CARROLL COUNTY MAN FACES MULTIPLE CHARGES AFTER TANEYTOWN CHURCH FIRE
CARROLL COUNTY, MD (June 26, 2020) - Deputy State Fire Marshals charged a Carroll County man with multiple arson-related charges after determining he was responsible for intentionally setting fires within the Trinity Evangelical Luthern Church.
On June 26, 2020, at 8:27 a.m., members of the Taneytown Volunteer Fire Company responded to the church located at 32 West Baltimore Avenue and extinguished the fires within minutes after arrival. No injuries were reported during the incident. Taneytown Police Department responded to the scene as well and detained David Francis Creager, age 47 after he confessed that he had intentionally set the church on fire.
Deputy State Fire Marshals responded and conducted an origin and cause investigation and determined the fires were incendiary (arson) in nature. Investigators also located an incendiary device, known as a 'Molotov cocktail' within the church's vestibule. Damage estimates to the structure and contents were valued at $10,000.
Investigators charged Creager with Arson 2nd Degree, Manufacture/Transport/Possess a Destructive Device, Possession of Incendiary Materials With Intent to Create a Destructive Device, Defacing Religious Property, 1st Degree Malicious Burning, and Malicious Destruction of Property over $1,000.00
Creager is currently being held at the Carroll County Detention Center without bond.
David Francis CREAGER
The
Office of the State Fire Marshal is an agency of the Department of
State Police dedicated to helping protect citizens from fire and
explosion through a comprehensive program of education,
inspection, investigation and fire protection engineering. For more
information on fire safety call 1-800-525-3124, log onto our website at: Maryland State Fire Marshal and/or our Facebook Page.
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