Auto dealer sets fire to his car; charged more than year later

A Lakeland auto detailer is being charged with arson and burning to defraud after he set his Isuzu Rodeo on fire near Garret Pit Road, according to an arrest report from the State Fire Marshal.

Bryan Allan Cromer, 26, was arrested June 27, over a year and a half after his SUV burned in November 2005.

The fire caused approximately $10,000 in damage, according to the report.

Investigators took three samples from the interior of the vehicle, all of which were found to contain gasoline.

Locksmiths were also able to determine that neither the door locks nor the ignition was forced — and that the owner’s factory key “was used to both open the vehicle and start the vehicle to drive it to the location where it was burned and later recovered.”

Cromer’s court date is set for Aug. 7. The arson charge he faces is a felony.

source : www.nwfdailynews.com