An investigation by the St. Lucie County Fire District and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office has resulted in yesterday’s arrest of 26-year-old Stanley Tyrone Mcbride, who has confessed to setting three north-St. Lucie County fires, according to the Fire District and Sheriff Ken J. Mascara.
Mcbride (pictured), of 2007 Hugo Road, was jailed yesterday under $11,250 bond and charged with three counts of arson. Each is a third-degree felony. Mcbride lives in the neighborhood where the Fire District and Sheriff’s Office have been investigating 15 brush fires in the North 25th Street area north of Fort Pierce.
“The Fire District would like to commend the Sheriff’s Office for their participation in this investigation into the rash of brush fires north of Fort Pierce,” said Fire District Division Chief Derek M. Foxx, who is the St. Lucie County Fire Marshal. “The increase of patrols along with Sheriff’s units responding with the District’s fire suppression units led to a suspect being apprehended earlier today. The community should still remain on alert for any suspicious activity until both agencies are assured the arson threat has been removed.”
Sheriff Mascara and Chief Foxx said the investigation is continuing with the possibility of additional charges.
When Mcbride was apprehended, he was carrying a cigarette lighter which he admitted he used to set this morning’s fire and two others.
Here are the locations where Mcbride confessed to setting fires, along with map links:
– Today, North 25th Street and Woodward Drive: https://goo.gl/maps/8DqUqKsJ7s32
– Oct. 31, Iroquois Avenue and Bryant Road: https://goo.gl/maps/7D8r2XDNF9k
– Oct. 31, Iroquois Avenue and St. Lucie Boulevard: https://goo.gl/maps/sEBzuipVWc92
The area where the suspicious fires have been set since Oct. 12 runs from North 25th Street and Avenue S (just south of Belcher Canal), north to St. Lucie Boulevard.)
If Mcbride is unable to post $11,250 bond, he will be confined at the St. Lucie County jail until a bond hearing Thursday morning. Deputies will take the detainees to a secure area of the jail for the bond hearings, with an audio-video link to a courtroom at the St. Lucie West County Courthouse Annex, 250 N.W. Country Club Drive, Port St. Lucie. County Court Judge Nirlaine T. Smartt will preside, beginning at 8:30 a.m.
