Molino Man Charged With Arson For Burning Foreclosed Home

March 16, 2011

A Molino man has been charged with setting fire to his home that was in foreclosure last fall.

George Thomas Alexander, 49, is facing a felony arson charge in connection with the fire in the 3500 block of Molino Road on October 6, 2010. He was arrested Monday night by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office and released from the Escambia County Jail on $10,000 bond.

According to Lt. Kevin Fiedor with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, the unoccupied home was in foreclosure and had no power and no gas. He said the fire appeared to have started in the rear of the home.

“The fire obviously started with human intervention,” Fiedor said. Damage to the brick home was estimated at about $65,000.

The Molino, Cantonment, McDavid, Century, Walnut Hill and Beulah stations of Escambia Fire Rescue worked for hours to fully extinguish the blaze.

For more photos from the blaze, click here.

NorthEsambia.com file photos, click  to enlarge.

Comments

27 Responses to “Molino Man Charged With Arson For Burning Foreclosed Home”

  1. art on March 18th, 2011 12:19 pm

    you know, LVL has something there…it is possible there is an arsonist in molino. there have been some unexplained house fires in the area over the years in empty houses…you are absolutely right LVL now that i think about it. one thing they know it is arson…i jsut cant see them arresting him unless they had some hard evidence against the guy, otherwise, it is just going to get thrown out.

  2. LVL on March 17th, 2011 9:44 pm

    Whoa, whoa. I cannot believe these comments are coming from folks in the MOLINO area! So far there is no proof at all that Tommy had anything to do with this fire. What happened to not hanging a person until he is proven guilty?

  3. harley1 on March 17th, 2011 7:53 pm

    re: Clinton, you have smoked way too much marijuana, which is bad for a person. It seriously affects their spelling. In addition to being unable to put a complete thought in writing. I’ve heard there are other effects.

  4. whitepunknotondope on March 17th, 2011 5:33 pm

    Those eyes…. W-E-I-R-D!!!!!

  5. David Huie Green on March 17th, 2011 5:17 pm

    A crazy person had a problem.

    He responded to his problem by burning property which belonged to other people.

    Yet other people risked their lives putting out the fire.

    Banks are to blame because they loan money and expect to be repaid.

    The government is to blame because they don’t just give all crazy people houses and whatever else they want.

    Did I get that right?

    David with interesting neighbors
    with fascinating insights

  6. art on March 17th, 2011 12:39 pm

    i have been associated with folks all my life that aren’t all there or they are flaky or whatever you want to call it…despite their emotional or intellectual challenges, they absolutely would never dream of setting a house on fire for any reason whatsoever. give me a break… that is like saying they cant have good morals if they have a disability…please.

  7. get em on March 17th, 2011 11:15 am

    LouLou
    His mother was not prayed upon to sign a reverse mortgage.
    SHE HAD TO CALL THEM.
    She just wanted a free ride.
    The first thing I learned by my mother when I wanted a bicycle was to get a job.
    THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE RIDE

  8. get em on March 17th, 2011 11:09 am

    Clinton since your so generous with MY MONEY how about YOU pay this
    home off and give it to him. Are you as generous with YOUR money.
    How about it CLINTON?????

  9. get em on March 17th, 2011 11:06 am

    He is not to nuts to get mad and get even. I’d say momma protected him and
    let him get away with too much.
    Nobody made momma sign a reverse mortgage. I’m sorry but you just hear
    it and you know better. Come-on people feeling sorry for someone is one
    thing if their home burns down, but this guy burnt down his home because
    he thought everything in life should be FREE. When it wasn’t he got ticked
    off.;
    Now WE will pay for his folly all the way around by everything JIM W. already
    pointed out and we will pay for his 3 hots and a cot.

  10. hawghead on March 17th, 2011 4:51 am

    Banks are already doing everything they can not to foreclose. With the housing market the way it is now banks would do better to work with people than foreclose. Also the govt. is forcing mortgage companies to work with people. I don’t this man’s situation but evidently he did little to try to work with the bank. No one wins here, all lose….

  11. AL on March 16th, 2011 11:27 pm

    LOL Mike P – — banks don’t lend money for the warm fuzzies, it’s a business! If you run a gas station, would you let me fill up and say “can’t afford it today but I’ll pay you over the next couple of weeks”

    LOL there’s an excuse for everything apparently

  12. JIM W on March 16th, 2011 10:10 pm

    It concerns me to hear people say what some of you have on this matter. I am talking about the ones who seem to think the banks are at fault here. I am sure there are things banks should or could do that maybe they didn’t. But the bottom line here is if the man did not pay his payments to the bank they had to do what they are required to. When he took out his loan it was in good faith and the bank and it’s investors loaned the money to him in good faith. It appears the bank lived up to their end of the bargin and he didn’t. I know it is rough out there as I have to make house payments as well. But I know as he did if I don’t make them I will to will no longer own a house. Therefore I will either be on the streets or living in an apartment or with someone who would help me. But the bottom line is it’s my responsibility to pay the bill there are no free rides and the bank and it’s investors have to get what they can of their money back.
    Just stop and think what would happen if everyone did what some of you suggest. The banks would not loan anyone anything because it would be to high risk. Come on guys we all pay for this in one way or another. And no I am not a banker or and investor of a bank or any other financial institution.
    Jim For Common Sense!!

  13. Molino Resident on March 16th, 2011 9:58 pm

    You can feel sorry for this individual all you want to but business is business. Can you justify intentionally burning property that no longer belongs to you? Then one might wonder what an individual could be capable of when someone “pushes their buttons.”

  14. billy on March 16th, 2011 9:32 pm

    blame it on the banks………hehe…..whew……..now ive heard it all

  15. neighbor on March 16th, 2011 9:21 pm

    if you only knew the man. he is a disturbed individual. not five minutes after the first firetruck showed, he pulled out and drove right by as if noting happened. seen it with my own eyes. throught the years growing down the rd from him i have seen a lot he has done. granted.. he isnt all there in the head! he shouldve been put away on numerous occasions. he dserves what he gets… if anything!

  16. chrstefl on March 16th, 2011 9:10 pm

    These lenders have no mercy !! It’s unfortunate he went this far but I can understand his pain. I have never been foreclosed on but I have busted my tail to pay for my home in good faith and god forbid I fall short. It’s just so unfortuante.

  17. loulou on March 16th, 2011 6:58 pm

    Did you know that while his mother was in a nursing home for recovery she was prayed upon to sign a reverse morage. To her understanding the house was not to be forclosed on until her son (the man pictured) died. Un fourtantly that was not the case, once she passed away they ceased payments right away, leaving Tommy and his wife (both not completly sane) did not understand what was happining. He was told that he would not have to deal with anything until he passed. Put yourself in a person who is or has gone thru this, it is not easy and when your forced out of your home after living there for 49 years you woud be a little shocked yourself too not to mention being off as it is. This is more than even a sane person could handle. So if you don’t know the situation I believe you should re-avaulate your comments. Put your self in there shoes.

  18. Mike P on March 16th, 2011 6:02 pm

    If everyone did what this man is charged with the banks would do everything in their power to prevent foreclosure instead of doing everything they can to profit from peoples misfortunes.

    I’m not saying it’s right because it’s not. It’s also not right to charge someone thousands of dollars in interest payments and then take their home away when they miss a few payments. The banks make mountains of money off of mortgages. They spend a mountain of money on foreclosures. They should be forced into making deals with homeowners instead of being allowed to act like landlords. Who cares if the person ends up taking 50 years to pay off his mortgage. It should be up to the landowner, not the bank.

  19. JohnMolino on March 16th, 2011 5:14 pm

    “Caption this Mugshot”
    LOL

  20. Scott on March 16th, 2011 3:02 pm

    Arson is a felony… I’m sure the owner is going to have a hard time defending his case. He might get what he wants… a free roof over his head & meals thanks to us tax payers.

  21. JIM W on March 16th, 2011 2:40 pm

    He has the deer in the head lights look on his mug! I guess he decided (if he did this) if I can’t have it your not going to have it. Dummy, not stopping to think he can get in serious trouble for doing so. It will also cost all of us when things like this happens in the form of tax dollars, cost of borrowing from banks, and insurance premiums being elevated. Real smart man real smart!
    Maybe if you did this you will receive the free housing you seem to think you deserve and the food and medical. All compliments once again of the taxpayer and adminstered by the corrections system we pay for. Ejoy your trip if your guilty!

  22. Clinton Curly Brooks on March 16th, 2011 2:39 pm

    I think they all gov.repos’.They ought
    give the house to the man.The people
    they want to give these houses’ to won’t I wonder how many years he paid the payments.Look around what the Gov is doingith the money

  23. get em on March 16th, 2011 12:13 pm

    Look how small the bond was for this expensive crime he’ll be out and
    long gone and probably never spend a day in jail.

  24. Jack on March 16th, 2011 9:59 am

    This is rediculous. You borrow money with the intention of paying it back. Then your circumstances change so suddenly the lender is supposed to say “Oh well”?
    Granted it is frustrating but this is not the way to handle it.

  25. get em on March 16th, 2011 8:16 am

    He needs to do more than that art. How about the 65,000.00 in damage
    that he did that at some point will cost us the tax payers and this is just
    another Molino eye-sore now that hurts all of us? How is the bank going
    to sell this? There is so much sympathy here for friends and relatives
    who have lost their homes that probably if they try him in this area he
    may just get acquitted. How about all the others that have done the same
    thing? This is the childish mentality of some people. I hope he gets jail
    and likes it there.

  26. art on March 16th, 2011 6:39 am

    he looks like he is in a state of shock. the science behind arson investigation has come a long way in the last few years and apparently mr..alexander didn’t get the memo. he needs to apologize to these hardworking firefighters each and ever one. then he needs to go scrub the floors at the above mentioned fire stations every week for a year.

  27. john q on March 16th, 2011 4:26 am

    bout time, normally people would have been caught by now, just saying

  FNBT