Fires were set inside multiple Walmart stores, SC police say. Now a man is behind bars
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect name of the suspect. The Columbia Police Department said it provided the incorrect name because the suspect possessed a false ID.
A man is behind bars after fires were recently set at multiple Walmart stores, according to the Columbia Police Department.
Jarod Stacy, 27, was publicly identified by police Thursday.
Stacy was charged with two counts of second-degree arson, jail records show. One of the counts is a City of Columbia charge, while the other is a Richland County charge, according to jail records.
Stacy was arrested Monday following a fire at the Walmart at 7520 Garners Ferry Road, police said in a news release. That’s near Exit 9 on Interstate 77.
Monday’s fire
At about 11 p.m. Monday, both police and members of the Columbia Fire Department responded to the Walmart, where there was a fire inside the retail store, according to the release.
Walmart employees contained and extinguished the flames using fire extinguishers as firefighters headed to the scene, police said.
No injuries were reported.
But Walmart officials told police that the fire caused approximately $30,000 in damages to miscellaneous merchandise in the store, according to the release.
A previous fire
An officer met with employees at the Garners Ferry Road store and showed them surveillance video from a fire the night before at the Walmart store on Two Notch Road, police said. The video showed a man setting fire to the Two Notch Road store, which is near Exit 80 on Interstate 20, about 14 miles from the Walmart on Garners Ferry Road, That store is in the jurisdiction of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Information about any injuries in the Sunday fire at the Two Notch Road Walmart, or an estimate on damages caused by the blaze, was not available.
During a search of the Garners Ferry Walmart on Monday, the officer recognized a man, who was ultimately identified as Stacy, from the Two Notch Road footage, according to the release.
As the officer tried to detain Stacy, he ran out of the store and hid in a nearby wood line, police said.
More officers and a police dog assisted in the search for Stacy, who was tracked down in the woods near the store and arrested, according to the release.
Arrest made
Stacy was taken to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, where he remains locked up after his bond was set at $75,000 on the combined arson charges.
There was no word about a motive for setting the fires.
When he was taken into custody, Stacy provided officers with “a wrong name,” police said Thursday.
Police said they were able to positively identify Stacy through fingerprint comparison and facial recognition, and Stacy then provided his real name after being questioned by investigators at the jail. A family member also aided officers with the identity fraud portion of the case, according to police.
In addition to the arson charges, Stacy has also been charged with identity fraud to obtain employment or avoid detection by law enforcement, Richland County court records show.
No bond was set on the identity fraud charge, according to jail records.
“The identity fraud victim is not associated with the investigation,” police said.
Stacy is scheduled to return to court on the Columbia arson and identity fraud charges on May 31, Richland County judicial records show.
If convicted on the felony arson charges, Stacy faces a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison for each count, according to South Carolina law. A conviction on the felony identity fraud charge carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a fine, according to South Carolina law.
Past fire at same store
This is not the first time there has been a fire at the Walmart on Garners Ferry Road.
In May 2023, 37-year-old Laurence Blocker was charged with second-degree arson after a fire at the store caused $50,000 worth of merchandise to be damaged, police said. No injuries were reported in that previous fire, according to police.
The charge against Blocker is still pending, and he remains incarcerated at the Richland County detention center after his bond was denied.
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This story was originally published March 27, 2024 at 8:03 AM.
