<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/22/national/22arson.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=>
The New York Times December 22, 2004 As Investigation Widens, Arson Is Linked to Maryland Gang By GARY GATELY REENBELT, Md., Dec. 21 - One of six young men under arrest in the arson that caused $10 million damage to a new subdivision two weeks ago has told investigators that the leader of a southern Maryland gang orchestrated the attack as a way of adding to the gang's notoriety, the authorities said in court documents made public Tuesday. In yet another turn in the case, the investigation continued to widen. Law enforcement officials said they now wanted to talk to 10 more people who might have information about the fires. Just before a detention hearing in federal court here Tuesday for the first of the suspects seized, investigators presented the most details yet of what they said they had learned about those arrested. Much of it involved the gang, said to have been called the Family or, alternatively, the Unseen Cavaliers, a reference to the Chevrolet Cavalier; some of the suspects shared an interest in racing autos in rural surroundings, officials said. In an affidavit accompanying charging documents, investigators said one of the suspects, Michael E. Gilbert, had told investigators that another, Patrick S. Walsh, approached him about a month ago with a plan to "make the Family bigger and more famous." Mr. Gilbert told investigators that Mr. Walsh's plan "had to do with setting 'something' on fire and that it would be big," the affidavit said. Three days before the blazes, by Mr. Gilbert's account, Mr. Walsh said to him, "Look, you know something's going down," adding: "I want you to know that this is your last chance. Do you want to be in on it or not?" Mr. Gilbert refused, he said, and Mr. Walsh was "upset with him" as a result. Another suspect, Roy T. McCann, court papers said, admitted that he had known beforehand about planning for the fires, but maintained that he left the subdivision just before they were set. The night before the fires, Mr. McCann said, an acquaintance called him on a cellphone and said Mr. Walsh planned to "do something stupid" at the subdivision, called Hunters Brooke. Mr. McCann told investigators that he had seen Mr. Walsh, Mr. Gilbert and two others now in custody, Aaron L. Speed and Jeremy D. Parady, enter two houses carrying bottles they had unloaded from a car, the court documents said. Ten houses were destroyed in the fires at Hunters Brooke, and 16 damaged. On Tuesday, prosecutors portrayed the arson as a meticulously coordinated effort to do as much harm as possible to the 319-home subdivision, much of it still under construction, about 25 miles south of Washington. Donna Sanger, an assistant United States attorney, said at the hearing that the suspects had engaged in "nothing less than an attempt to wipe out an entire community." Ms. Sanger said the suspects had named the arson plot Operation Payback. Though she would not elaborate, law enforcement officials have suggested that revenge may have been a motive of two of the suspects. Mr. Speed had been upset that his employer showed indifference after the death of his infant son last spring, investigators said, and Mr. Parady may have been angry because he was rejected when he applied for a job with the Lennar Corporation, the subdivision's developer. Ms. Sanger also noted that many of the Hunters Brooke home buyers were black, and suggested that racism may have been a motive. Charging documents and accompanying affidavits have neither mentioned race nor called the arson a hate crime. But law enforcement officials, noting that all the suspects are white, say that two of them have made racist remarks to investigators. "The issue of whether or not that was a motivating factor is something we're investigating very thoroughly and very carefully at this time," Ms. Sanger said in court Tuesday. In response, John Chamble, Mr. Speed's court-appointed lawyer, accused Ms. Sanger of unfairly playing the "race card." The inquiry, meanwhile, continued to grow with investigators' plans to question nearly a dozen additional people. Not all are suspected of participating directly in the arson, the authorities said, but all may have had knowledge of plans for it and could possibly be charged with conspiracy. These people are all white, officials said, and include two women. If convicted, each of those already in custody faces 5 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. At the hearing Tuesday, Mr. Speed was ordered held without bond. Detention hearings for the five others are scheduled for Thursday. Copyrigh -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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