Some Like it Hot: Fire Department Volunteer Charged With Setting Two House Fires... at His Own House!
BENNINGTON, Vt. (CBS/AP) Maybe Ralph Brown, a fire department volunteer in Bennington, Vt., just likes the adrenalin rush of a good house fire?
Police say Brown set his own house on fire - twice in two days - because he wanted the insurance money
Seems like a familiar motive... but there's more.
Officials believe the 41-year-old Brown wanted that insurance money to pay for infertility treatments for his wife.
He pleaded not guilty Wednesday to arson and other charges,
Police say Brown set his house ablaze Friday morning, Feb. 26, and then again the following Saturday night. They say the first fire was started by crossing wires, the second with a torch. Officials said both times they arrived at Brown's house he claimed he wasn't around when things got hot.
The house is in his wife's name.
Brown volunteered for the fire department, securing fire scenes.