A 21-year-old Odessa man is facing an arson charge after video surveillance caught him setting the inside of a car on fire in late September, according to an Odessa Police Department report.
Odessa Fire Rescue was dispatched to a DK convenience store on North Dixie Boulevard and 52nd Street about a car fire around 6:20 a.m. Sept. 30.
When officers arrived, they found a Ford Taurus completely burned against the south wall of the store.
The officers retrieved video surveillance footage from a nearby Smoker’s Outlet and saw a man stumbling in the parking lot and throwing unknown items onto the roof of the outlet, according to the report. They also saw the same man ignite a fire inside the Taurus before exiting the car and leaving the scene, the report stated.
Officers identified Lee Anthony Juarez as the man on the footage. According to the report, Juarez initially denied owning a white car, but then admitted he owned it after relatives told officers he owned a white Ford Taurus and he’d told them it had broken down at the DK at 52nd Street and Dixie.
Juarez also admitted he’d intentionally started the fire by igniting a towel with gasoline residue on it, the report stated.
Juarez was arrested Saturday on suspicion of arson, a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison. He remains in the Ector County jail on a $25,000 surety bond.
