Stolen Credit Card Leads To New Arrests In Lorton Crash That Caused House Fire

LORTON, VA — In an odd twist to an incident from earlier this month, the Fairfax County Police Department has arrested and charged a different man in connection with a stolen vehicle that crashed into an electrical box in front of a home in Lorton, causing the house to catch fire.

Police are now saying that Dwayne Anderson, 23, of Lorton has been identified as the driver of the stolen vehicle that crashed into the home on Sept. 7.

After consultation with the Office of the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney, all charges were dropped against the original suspect, police said Thursday.

At the time this article was published, police had not responded to a request to explain why officers identified the wrong suspect on Sept. 7.

In its original news release about the incident on Sept. 7, the FCPD named the suspect and said he “crashed the stolen car into an electrical box in the front yard of a home in the 8400 block of Whitehaven Court.”

“The car became engulfed in flames, which spread to the home. [The suspect] ran from the car to evade officers. Five individuals in the home were quickly evacuated from the home,” FCPD said at the time.

The FCPD also said: “A K9 officer tracked [the suspect] to a nearby wood line as he was attempting to conceal himself. [The suspect] refused to follow officers’ directions and was taken into custody with the assistance of a K9. He was taken to the hospital to be treated for a minor injury. [The suspect] was arrested for Trespassing, Auto Theft, and Hit and Run. He was held on no bond.”

On Thursday, the FCPD said that detectives from its Criminal Investigation Division have now charged two different adults for their involvement in the case.

“Through further investigation and the discovery of critical evidence, detectives determined additional suspects involved in the case,” the FCPD said. “As the investigation into [the original suspect], the individual previously arrested in this case, progressed, evidence emerged indicating that someone was using a stolen credit card associated with the case.”

Police said this discovery led detectives to further investigate the involvement of other people. Detectives obtained home surveillance footage that captured the presence of an unknown man in the vicinity of the incident, police said.

On Thursday, police identified Anderson as the driver of the stolen vehicle that crashed into the home. He has been arrested and charged with grand larceny-auto theft, hit-and-run damage to property over $1,000, and theft of credit card. Anderson is being held at the Adult Detention Center with no bond, police said.

Rianna Elliot, 22, of Lorton also was arrested and charged with credit card theft for her involvement in the case, police said.