Police Investigate Suspicious Fires at Mauldin Residence

Over the past 11 days, residents of a Mauldin home have been the victims of a suspected arsonist, according to Mauldin Police reports.

Luckily, no one has been hurt so far, and most of the damage has been minor, the reports indicated.

The first incident happened April 3 when the owner of a home on Swinton Drive in Mauldin told police she and her son saw something flashing in the backyard. Outside, someone had apparently set fire to the tarp covering the family's pontoon boat, as well as a decorative lattice attached to the home's back porch.

An empty gas can was found near the scene, the report said, but the can appeared to have been sitting in the same spot for some time and a fireman on the scene said the cause of the fire was unknown pending further investigation. Those small fires caused about $650 damage.

Several days later, another fire was apparently started that caused damage to the home's vinyl siding, creating about $100 worth of damage after the owner rushed to extinguish it before it could spread.

Again, the family's gas can was found, this time on the home's front porch.

The owner of the house said she suspected the culprit might be her ex-husband, one report said. The suspicious fires, she said, had started after the Greenville County Family Court had stripped her husband's visitation rights to the couple's daughter, the report said.

No arrests have been made, and the cases remain under investigation.