Police make arrest in arson cases

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PROSPECT — Prospect police arrested a female suspect Thursday in connection with arsons from 2008 and 2015.

The female, whose identity wasn’t released by police because she was under 18 years old in 2008, is also facing a reckless burning charge stemming from a separate brush fire last year.

The Volunteer Fire Department of Prospect responded to a car fire at a single-family home at about 1:15 a.m. on June 14, 2015, police said in a press release. The fire, which had fully engulfed the car and spread to the house near the garage, was put out by firefighters. Police said a heavy smell of a “gasoline-type product” was noted in the area of the car.

Firefighters responded to the same home the next night at about 1:35 a.m. for a brush fire near a flag pole in the front of the house. The fire was extinguished and didn’t spread to the house.

Police said the female admitted to firefighters that she set the brush fire, but told them it was set by mistake from a candle she was burning as a tribute to a friend who recently died.

The address of the house wasn’t released by police.

The state police Central District Major Crime Squad took over the investigations of both fires and also re-opened an investigation in a vehicle and house arson from Aug. 8, 2008 at 64 Cook Road. Police said new information was uncovered that pointed to the female, who lived in Prospect, possibly setting the 2008 fire.

Along with reckless burning, police charged the female with two counts of first-degree arson and three counts each of first-degree reckless endangerment and first-degree criminal mischief. She was held on bonds totaling $65,000 and scheduled to be arraigned in Waterbury Superior Court today. No further information was released.