SUMTER, SC — A 13-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in connection with a series of fires considered to be arson.

Sumter Police arrested the teen, not named because of his age, Wednesday evening, and said he was a person of interest in the investigation early on.

The first fire was reported around 7 p.m. Jan. 18 at 27 Sampson St. People who lived in the home said a front window had been broken and the curtains set ablaze. They extinguished it quickly, but estimated damages at about $130.

A couch was set on fire a few hours later in a home at 19 Sampson St, causing about $800 in damage. That home also was occupied when the fire was set.

The next evening around 8 p.m., a Sumter Police officer noticed smoke coming from a vacant house at 19 Walker St. that had burned before and was recently bought by the city. The Jan. 19 fire was put out by the fire department.

The juvenile lives in the area of the fires and is linked to them by evidence the police are not discussing because the investigation is not complete. He is charged with three counts of third-degree arson and one count of first-degree burglary.

The teen is being held at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice Detention Center in Columbia.

Kelly Davis