A Laurel County man used books to set two fires in his girlfriend’s house less than an hour after getting out of jail, said a London Police detective.
Stephen McWilliams, 28, was charged with second degree arson for the fires he’s accused of setting at a house on N. Mill Street in London before 1 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Investigators found three books on the kitchen stove with the burners turned on high as well as an overturned refrigerator that was blocking the entrance to the kitchen.
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“This is one of those you normally don’t see as obvious as what it was,” said London Police Sergeant Gary Proffitt, who added that the fire damage was contained to the kitchen.
Sgt. Proffitt told LEX 18 that the 911 call came less than an hour after McWilliams bonded out of the Laurel County Detention Center for an alcohol intoxication charge.
Steven Hood, a neighbor who called 911 after seeing smoke, said McWilliams first went to jail for a fight between him and his girlfriend that Hood tried to break up.
“He said ‘I’m calling the cops on you for breaking in here,'” said Hood. “I said ‘Buddy, I don’t think it’s going to look too good for you. I think you’re going to jail.'”
Hood remembers seeing McWilliams return to his house only to leave a little while later with some of his belongings. The neighbor saw smoke a few minutes later and then heard a blown transformer.
“It sounded like a grenade going off,” said Hood. “It was bad.”
McWilliams was arrested around 4:30 Wednesday morning. The suspect told investigators that he went to the house and removed property but said he never went inside, said Sgt. Proffitt.
“This probably ranks the quickest I’ve seen somebody get out {of jail} and go right back,” said Sgt. Proffitt. “If you go the first time you probably need to figure out what you’re doing and don’t go back the second time.”
LEX 18 reached out to McWilliams from the Laurel County Detention Center for his side of the story but he declined our interview request.
