(Washington, DC)  DC Fire Investigators have confirmed the arrest of a 36-year-old DC man in last summer’s torching of a daycare in Southeast Washington.

James Robert Morrell, of no fixed address, was arrested January 2nd on an unrelated assault charge and has been incarcerated since that time. Investigators from the DC Arson Task Force, comprised of members of the Metropolitan Police Department, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and DC Fire/EMS, identified Morrell as a suspect in the early morning fire at 1442 W Street, SE on July 8, 2002. He was later charged with arson in the W Street, SE case. There were no injuries in that fire, but a family of seven was displaced. A four-year-old girl who suddenly awoke and saw orange flames from her window alerted her family to the fire, which caused nearly $200,000 in damage.

Update on 461 H Street, NW

A series of intentionally set fires at the Judiciary House apartment complex, 461 H Street., NW, has put all the residents there in extreme danger. Fire investigators, working with the DC Arson Task Force, have identified a suspect and are in the process of securing an arrest warrant. The suspect’s name will not be released until the warrant has been issued.