Reply to Georgetown Arson Story - anyone know what happened?

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[quote=Anonymous]Post info:
By 
Peter Hermann
Dec. 29, 2020 at 12:09 p.m. EST
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A 26-year-old man has been charged with breaking into a house in Georgetown on Monday and igniting piles of charcoal briquettes to set fire to interior rooms, causing significant damage to the $3.1 million home, D.C. police and fire officials said.

The fire in the 3200 block of S Street NW was reported about 1:10 p.m.

The family that lives in the house was away, according to an advisory neighborhood commissioner, and could not immediately be reached.

A police report says fire investigators found “the fire was intentionally ignited” using “small piles of charcoal briquettes placed in areas to spread the fire.” No injuries were reported, and police estimated damage at $1 million.

Police have charged a man with intentionally setting the home on fire.
Police have charged a man with intentionally setting the home on fire. (D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services department)
Police said Samuel Carey Kalinski was charged with one count of arson. Public records show an address connected to him in the Glover Park neighborhood, less than one mile from the S Street house in Northwest Washington.

Neither an arrest affidavit nor a police report described a possible motive. A woman who answered the phone Tuesday at an address listed for Kalinski and identified herself using the Kalinski name declined to comment.

D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond on Tuesday ordered Kalinski detained and set a hearing for Jan. 21. She said there is “pretty strong evidence that Mr. Kalinski started the fire.” She also noted that Kalinski has a pending assault charge in Fairfax County, Va.

Kalinski’s attorney, Matthew F. Davies with the Public Defender Service, said video that authorities found in the case is not a conclusive match to his client, and other than his arrest in Virginia two weeks ago, Kalinski “has an impeccable background.”

Vito Maggiolo, a spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, said it took firefighters about 20 minutes to extinguish the blaze in the six-bedroom, 3,600-square foot home.

A police report says firefighters found the yard ransacked. Maggiolo said that prompted fire investigators to immediately seek out surveillance video, and a camera was located on a nearby business.

Police said video showed a man jumping a fence shortly after 11 a.m. and then entering the house by kicking in a rear door. An arrest affidavit says the video shows the man entering and exiting the home several times, carrying items outside. About 1:10 p.m., the video shows smoke coming from the house and the man leaving.

Fire officials said investigators saw a man outside the burning house who matched the description of the person in the video. They said the man began walking away and was detained by the investigators a block away.[/quote]

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