Arsonist caught in the act, Roswell police say

A man has been charged with arson after police caught him with matches near a fire behind a building.

Christopher Hutchinson, 27, was standing next to a pile of pinestraw that police said he’d set on fire just before 2 a.m. on Christmas Day, Roswell police spokesman Zachary Frommer told Channel 2 Action News.

“One of our officers was on routine patrol on Holcomb Bridge (Road) and noticed a fire from behind a jewelry business,” Frommer said.

Hutchinson told police he was trying to stay warm by the pinestraw fire that damaged the back of the Brown and Company Jewelers building. But Frommer said Hutchinson was dressed for the 50-degree weather and the discovery of hundreds more matches in his backpack made it even more suspicious.

“I don’t think he was trying to hurt anyone,” Frommer told the television station. “It appears he’s just a fire bug.”

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