RIVERSIDE, Calif. (WWJ) - An Allen Park man is being accused of a two year reign of arson after federal authorities say he started more than two dozen fires to trucking trailers across multiple states.
Viorel Pricop, 64, of Allen Park, was arrested Tuesday morning on the allegations and appeared in United States District Court in Detroit, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Federal authorities say Pricop deliberately set 25 fires on trailers belonging to a major commercial trucking company in eight different states over a span of more than two years.
"Pricop is charged with one count of arson of property in interstate commerce, a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison and a statutory maximum of 20 years in federal prison," officials said in a statement.
According to court documents, officials said 25 semi-truck trailers owned by Swift Transportation, a commercial trucking company out of Phoenix, were lit on fire from June 2020 to September 2022.
"In each of the incidents, the Swift-owned truck was parked or stopped at a fuel station or rest area when a fire occurred in or on the trailer portion of the vehicle, mainly on or near the trailer tires," an affidavit filed with the complaint explained.
The fires occurred across a string of states from Barstow, Calif. to McCalla, Ala., with most of the blazes breaking out along Interstate 10 and Interstate 40.
"Law enforcement has learned of six fires in California, three fires in Arizona, nine fires in New Mexico, three fires in Texas, and one fire each in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama," federal authorities added.
Soon after Swift hired fire investigation consultants to examine the blazes, officials were able to identify a pattern based on the where the fires began, when they broke out and how the flames were started.
"An investigation of cell phone towers near the fires revealed that a specific GPS navigation device installed in a commercial truck was present at the fires," officials said in court documents.
Police said the device was found to be located in a vehicle that was owned and driven by Pricop.
According to court records, law enforcement then "identified the cellphone subscribed to Pricop and, through historical cellular data analysis and ping warrants, learned that the phone was present in the general area of 24 of the 25 fires."
Police executed a search warrant on Pricop's home and vehicle on September 16 and obtained further evidence in his alleged involvement in the fires.
Law enforcement found logbooks, bills of lading, shipping receipts, and other record keeping documents, many of which were found to contain "location information, such as cargo pickup and delivery dates, which coincided with locations where fires in this series occurred," officials said.
Pricop is not unknown to the law. According to federal authorities, Pricop was previously convicted for the transportation of stolen goods in the Eastern District of Michigan in 2018.
Swift Transportation was also involved in the case, cooperating with authorities during the investigation and prosecution. Pricop was sentenced to two years in prison, but was given credit for time previously served.
His term of supervised release ended in June 2019, about one year before the arsons in this case began, the affidavit states.