San Clemente Arson Probe Focuses on Marine : Crime: Investigators say a car like his was seen leaving the site of a brush fire. A rifle loaded with tracer bullets was found in his vehicle, reports say. The blaze consumed more than 100 acres of brush.
A Camp Pendleton Marine was being investigated Monday in connection with a suspected arson after a car like his was spotted leaving the scene of a brush fire that consumed more than 100 acres here Sunday, authorities said.
Jose Antonio Sanchez, 19, was arrested late Sunday in San Clemente after deputies found a loaded weapon in his red Dodge Stealth with Florida license plates, said sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Downing.
The vehicle was seen by witnesses leaving Avenida Pico near Calle Amanecer shortly after the blaze broke out about 2:30 p.m., Capt. Dan Young of the Orange County Fire Department said.
“It sounds like, ‘Oh, this guy started the fire,’ but it’s not that simple,” Young said. “We have not established that, in fact, this is the guy.”
A deputy spotted Sanchez’s car on North El Camino Real about 11 p.m. and pulled the vehicle over because it matched the description given by witnesses earlier, Downing said. A sniper rifle loaded with tracer bullets, a knife and brass knuckles were found in the vehicle, Downing said. Sanchez was booked at Orange County Jail on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm and the brass knuckles. Bail had not been set.
Investigators believe the loaded rifle found in the car may have been used to shoot a tracer round that sparked the brush fire, Young said. The firing of a tracer round, a bullet that glows red in flight so that its trajectory can be seen, is prohibited in California except for military purposes, Young said.
“In brush wild land, it’s not only illegal, it’s also a fire hazard,” Young said.
Marine Corps Sgt. Janice Hagar, a Camp Pendleton spokeswoman, confirmed Sanchez is stationed there, but could not provide details of his rank or duties.
Sunday’s fire blackened about 140 acres of wildlife habitat but did not threaten any homes, Young said.
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