A Winterville, Georgia, man faces eight felony counts after police say he set fire to a Cornelia apartment as four people, including a baby, slept inside.
Police arrested Michael Kevin Brudon, 37, on Sunday, hours after he fled the scene.
Smoke alarms inside the apartment awoke the child’s mother and she extinguished the fire, police say.
Home invasion and fire
Around 4 a.m. on July 2, Habersham E-911 dispatched Cornelia police officers to 114 Sunshine Circle regarding the house fire.
“During the investigation, it was determined that Brudon broke into the apartment, stole several items, and then on the way out, tried setting the residence on fire by squirting a table with lighter fluid and lighting it,” says Cornelia Police Chief Jonathan Roberts. A milk crate with clothes in it caught fire on the table.
Roberts says Brudon lit the fire in the bedroom where the 1-year-old child was sleeping. The child’s mother is related to Brudon’s ex-girlfriend.
“We believe it to be domestic related due to the relationship between the victim’s mother and the suspect,” says Chief Roberts.
Recently released from jail
Brudon was recently released from jail. He spent two days in the Habersham County Detention Center after Cornelia police arrested him on June 15 for indecent exposure. According to Roberts, that case relates to an incident at his ex-girlfriend’s apartment.
On Sunday, local authorities asked the State Fire Marshal’s Office to assist with the fire investigation. A Banks County Sheriff’s K9 unit helped track Brudon, who left the scene on foot. Later the same day, officers located Brudon. They took him into custody without incident.
Police charged Brudon with four counts of aggravated assault, first-degree arson and burglary, second-degree cruelty to children, and home invasion. They booked him at the Habersham County Detention Center, where he remained behind bars as of late Monday, July 3.
