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Pinellas Officials Interview Man In String of Arsons

Tribune photo by STEPHEN THOMPSON

Niria Rodriguez is flanked by two relatives outside her home where a Molotov cocktail was tossed.

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TBO.com Staff

Published: January 19, 2009

Updated: 01/19/2009 12:19 pm

Authorities are interviewing a man this afternoon they say they suspect might have played a role in a string of overnight arsons in Pinellas Park.

Christopher S. Robinson, a 26-year-old transient, was found asleep in a truck that had been stolen from a home at 5929 32nd St., where a carport had been set on fire, said Capt. Sanfield Forseth of the Pinellas Park Police Department.

Fires had also been set at 7600 43rd St., 6420 68th St., and 4700 83rd Terrace, Forseth said. At two of those addresses – 6420 68th St. and 4700 83rd Terrace – Molotov cocktails had been used, while, at the home at 7600 43rd St., it appeared someone had tried to set a garden trestle on fire, he said.

The worst fire was at 4700 83rd Terrace, where firefighters were called to extinguish the blaze, he said. Four scooters in front of the home were destroyed, and the front of the house suffered fire damage as well, he said.

The other blazes were comparably minor.

At the 68th Street address, a woman said she was watching TV at about 3 a.m. when she heard some explosions. She opened the door and doused a small fire outside with water, said the woman.

In addition to the four blazes, someone had stuffed a rag in the gas tank of a vehicle at 7061 52nd Lane and tried to light it, but the damage was limited to a melted gas tank cap, Forseth said.

Robinson was found in the vicinity of 80th Avenue and 62nd Street sleeping in a Dodge pickup truck that had been stolen from 5929 32nd St., Forseth said. A trailer with some furniture had also been stolen, but it was nowhere to be found when authorities came across Robinson, Forseth said.

Forseth said he does not believe the arson victims are connected in any way, though it appears the fires themselves are the work of one person or a team of people. Forseth said Pinellas Park police and Pinellas Sheriff's investigators are trying to determine Robinson's role in the fires.

At 4700 83rd Terrace N. – where the worst of the fires occurred -- Niria Rodriguez lives with her husband and their 22-year-old daughter.

With her first cousin translating, Rodriguez, who speaks only Spanish, said she was sleeping and her daughter was watching television when the daughter heard a loud noise outside at about 4 a.m.

Her daughter looked through a window and saw a man running away, Rodriguez said through her first cousin, German Gonzalez. The daughter, Yuri Rodriguez, called for her mother and then opened the door a little bit, Niria Rodriguez said. That's when the daughter saw the scooters in front of the house in flames.

"She don't know who did it," said Gonzalez of his cousin. "She lives her for five years and she's had no problem with anyone else."

The Rodriguezes were told a Molotov cocktail was used, and police took remnants of the incendiary device away, said Gonzalez. The blaze caused an estimated $5,000 worth of damage – the four scooters, plus structural damage to the front of the house, Niria Rodriguez said through her cousin.

While police were investigating the blaze, after it had been extinguished by firefighters, they were told over the radio of at least one other arson, Gonzalez said.

In addition to seeing a man, Yuri Rodriguez saw a large, four-door, dark colored car, Gonzalez said.

Anyone who knows about the arsons is asked to contact Detective R. Hunt at the Pinellas Park Police Department at (727) 541-0805, ext. 4404.

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