March 12, 2024
An outstanding warrant for the arrest of a Clinton man accused of setting a mailbox and a Foss Lake bath house on fire was issued last week.
Court records show that 20-year-old Jason Lee Brown was charged last week with two felony counts of 4th degree arson after admitting to investigators of starting the fires late last month.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Custer County Deputies responded to a call of a mailbox being set on fire near the Stafford community. When they arrived they found the burnt mailbox and spoke with the homeowner who said he saw a burn path from the ground to the mailbox – indicating an accelerant had been used to start the fire.
The next day an Oklahoma State Park Ranger responded to the Sandy Beach Campground at Foss Lake State Park and found that someone had ignited an item next to a bath house, which ultimately scorched the outside wall.
Three days later authorities responded to yet another fire near the Stafford area, this time at an abandoned trailer house that was deemed a total loss. Fire officials determined the cause of the fire as being arson, due to the fact that no utilities were attached to the structure.
The affidavit stated that an investigation revealed home security footage catch a vehicle leave the scene of the mailbox fire and a similar vehicle driving around the trailer house prior to it catching fire.
While canvasing the area, deputies also found a piece of mail addressed to Brown on the scene.
It was discovered that the owner of the land the trailer house was on is the defendant’s mother, and when police went to the Clinton home they found the vehicle matching the suspect vehicle in the surveillance video.
Brown would initially deny starting the fires to police, but would later call police back and confess to setting the mail box on fire, and starting the fire at Foss Lake, however denied setting the trailer house on fire.
Bond for Brown was set at $6,000. His first court date is scheduled for March 27.
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