Serial arsonist setting utility poles on fire hits another southeast Michigan city, police say
A suspected serial arsonist accused of setting utility poles on fire in Sterling Heights, Auburn Hills and Ypsilanti Township is believed to be associated with another utility pole on fire in Dundee, police say.
Dundee Police Department announced Thursday that on Sept. 30, its police officers responded to a report of a utility pole on fire near the intersection of Pherdun Road and Ann Arbor Road.
Police say that the vehicle they identified during the Dundee investigation matches the vehicle description and license plate information issued by investigations from similar utility pole fires in other cities, including Auburn Hills and Sterling Heights.
The Dundee Police Department is referring to a Belleville 38-year-old woman who was charged in connection with utility pole fires in Macomb County and Oakland County.
According to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office, the suspect was arraigned Oct. 5 on third-degree arson and assault with a dangerous weapon after she allegedly fled the scene of a utility pole fire in Sterling Heights on Oct. 1 and nearly struck one of the firefighters in the process.
She received a $150,000 bond.
DTE released a statement on Oct. 2 saying that it is working with authorities to investigate "a series of deliberate attacks on electric infrastructure" that involved at least eight utility poles being soaked with gas and set on fire, and shared a Facebook video in the statement of a pole set on fire.
On Oct. 5, the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office said that between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, several fires were set on at least five different utility poles in Ypsilanti Township.
Sterling Heights Police said detectives developed information indicating the suspect in the Sterling Heights fire may be connected to other arsons in Southeast Michigan, including a fire in Ypsilanti.
On Oct. 6, the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office charged the same suspect with one count of fourth-degree arson in connection with fires in Auburn Hills after she allegedly admitted to Auburn Hills investigators that she used gasoline to set a utility pole on fire.
