The wife of a South Carolina highway patrolman has been arrested and faces third-degree arson and other charges in connection with a fire at her Greenville County home, according to authorities and arrest warrants.
Greenville County Sheriff’s Office arson investigators arrested Paula L. Rose, 46, in connection with the fire July 27 at her home at 136 Riley Smith Drive off Pelham Road, warrants show.
http://liarcatchers.com/arson_investigation.html
Rose also is charged with burning personal property to defraud an insurer, making a false insurance claim to obtain benefits for fire or explosion loss and filing a false police report of a felony violation, according to the warrants.
Warrants allege that she started the fire by pouring an ignitable liquid on building material and exposing it to an open flame.
Magistrate Leila Foster set Rose’s bond at $40,000 during a hearing Wednesday at the Greenville County Detention Center. Rose spoke softly, saying “Yes ma’am” when Foster asked if she understood her rights. Rose made no statement.
Rose’s attorney, Jack Riordan, urged the magistrate to release her on a personal recognizance bond, saying his client wasn’t a danger to the community or a flight risk.
Riordan declined to comment after the hearing.
Investigators said Rose filed a claim with an insurance company regarding the fire and obtained insurance benefits.
Investigators said Rose called 911 dispatchers and reported three men were inside her garage trying to gain entry to a gun safe.
Rose told dispatchers that one of the men saw her inside her home through a window, investigators said.
She ran to the rear of her home while still on the phone with dispatchers and hid in a back room, investigators said. Rose told 911 operators she heard noises outside of her home and she looked out and saw that her house was on fire, according to investigators.
Rose escaped without injury, investigators said. Sheriff’s deputies and the Wade Hampton Fire Department responded and firefighters put out the fire, investigators said. Deputies and firefighters also met with Rose, investigators said.
Greenville County arson and property crimes investigators also were called to the scene and began searching for burn patterns, fire patterns, and items that might have been used to ignite the fire, deputies said.
In addition, investigators used a specially trained sheriff’s dog named Misty to detect ignitable liquids used to start fires, deputies said.
Deputies said the dog alerted investigators to ignitable liquids in the fire debris. Samples of fire debris were sent to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for analysis and testing, deputies said.
Additional physical evidence was collected from the scene, deputies said.
“Through the course of the investigation arson and property crimes investigators learned that the initial information reported was not true,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
