Crime & Safety
Man Lit Car, Other Items Ablaze In Rural Mendocino County: Police
Deputies arrested a man suspected of lighting a car and other items on fire.
COVELO, CA — Deputies arrested a man suspected of lighting a car and other items on fire, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said Sunday.
On Wednesday at about 1:30 p.m., an act of arson was reported in the 76000 block of state Highway162 in Covelo that had allegedly happened earlier that morning. The reporting party said they arrived at work and saw burned items near a family member's vehicle, including burn marks on the inside and outside of the vehicle.
Surveillance footage allegedly showed the suspect entering the car, putting a cloth object over the passenger door and lighting it on fire. The suspect then used the burning cloth to light other things on fire in the car. The suspect then allegedly went and grabbed what looked like a mop which had been set on fire. The suspect is accused of putting the blazing mop onto the car, then using it to light more things in a barrel. The surveillance showed the suspect at the scene for over two hours, the Sheriff's Office alleges. The damage to the car is estimated at $1,000.
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The suspect was identified as Covelo resident Ambrose Fallis, 26. On Thursday, Fallis was spotted on Main Street in Covelo and arrested. He was booked into county jail on suspicion of felony arson and as of Sunday was still being held on $50,000 bail, according to jail records.
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