FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: David Lienemann
DHSEM Public Information Officer
David.Lienemann@DHSEM.NM.GOV
December 1, 2022
New Mexico Fire Marshals assist Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in multistate arson investigation involving Swift Trucking
Suspect arrested in arson case involving 25 truck fires across eight states
SANTA FE – The New Mexico Fire Marshals office worked with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in a multistate arson investigation involving Swift Trucking Company trucks spanning two years. ATF reached out to the Fire Marshals office in October, 2020 to coordinate the investigation of any commercial motor vehicle fires along Interstate 40. On October 24, 2020, the New Mexico State Police reached out to the Fire Marshals office to report a commercial motor vehicle fire involving a Swift tractor trailer in Tucumcari, New Mexico along Interstate 40. The rear of the semi-truck was on fire and the driver of the truck was asleep in the cab of the truck. The State Fire Marshals investigation determined the incident was a criminal act of arson and attempted murder.
Over the following two years, the New Mexico Fire Marshals office investigated five additional fires involving Swift tractor trailers in conjunction with ATF. Using search warrants for cell phone towers in Torrance, McKinley, Guadalupe and Quay County, the Fire Marshals located a GPS device, installed in a commercial truck, which was present at all fires. Through additional warrants and historical cellular data analysis, law enforcement was able to locate a phone owned by the same individual who owned the truck and GPS in the general area of 24 of the 25 Swift truck fires across 8 states.
Upon execution of a search warrant of the suspect’s vehicle and home, investigators discovered additional evidence of his alleged involvement in the series of arsons including logbooks, bills of landing, shipping receipts, and other records in digital and paper format. Many of the documents included location information such as pickup and delivery dates which coincided with the locations where the fires had occurred.
The suspect originally from Michigan has been arrested on a federal criminal complaint. According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, 25 semi-truck trailers owned by Swift Transportation, were set ablaze while parked or stopped at a fuel station or rest areas from June 2020 to September 2022 across the I-10 and I-40 corridors from Alabama to California including 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.
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David Lienemann, Public Information Officer | David.Lienemann@DHSEM.NM.GOV | 505 479 0144