Home arsons probed

INDIAN HEAD, Md. – Racial animosity and revenge are among the possible motives in the fires that caused $10 million in damage in Maryland’s largest residential arson case, a spokesman for federal investigators said Sunday.

Four men have been charged with arson at the Hunters Brooke development in Indian Head, where fires on Dec. 6 destroyed 10 houses and damaged 16 others. No one was hurt; many of the homes were still under construction.

A federal law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity said two of the four suspects in custody allegedly made racial statements to investigators during questioning.

The suspects are white, and many of the families moving into the development are black.

The federal official also said that one of the suspects, Jeremy Daniel Parady, was turned down when he tried to get a job with Lennar Corp., the company building the houses about 30 miles south of Washington.

Another suspect, Aaron Speed, told investigators he was upset his employer did not show enough sympathy after his infant son died this year, according to court documents.

Michael Campbell, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said investigators are considering revenge and race, along with several other possible motives.

“Two typical motives for arson are revenge and race,” Campbell said. “It’s something investigators are looking at.”

None of the suspects has been charged with a hate crime.

On Saturday, officials arrested three of the men — Parady, Patrick Stephen Walsh and Michael McIntosh Everhart, all 20. They were to appear today before a judge in Greenbelt. Speed, 21, worked for a company hired to guard the development.