STUART — Authorities on Monday arrested a 36-year-old Stuart man after he confessed to setting the Saturday fires in a neighborhood of Stuart that caused more than $120,000 in damages and displaced 11 people.

Investigators said Victor Vasquez, who also goes by the name Estruado Moicesz-Ramirez, is being held without bond at the Martin County jail on three counts of arson and two counts each of arson in an occupied dwelling, burglary to an occupied dwelling and burglary.

According to arrest reports, Martin County sheriff’s deputies and firefighters received a call around 3:15 a.m. Saturday for a fire at 2523 S.E. Indian Street in the Golden Gate neighborhood south of downtown Stuart. WIthin 45 minutes, they received calls for other fires - one also on Indian Street and three more on Golden Gate Avenue, Bonita Street and Ferndale Avenue.

Though no one was injured in the fires, deputies say one man, Carmelis Rene, was asleep in his Golden Gate Avenue home and had no idea the house was on fire until deputies broke in and alerted him.

In all, according to deputies and Martin County Fire-Rescue officials, the American Red Cross helped 11 people who had to be relocated.

Detectives said though Vasquez gave no reason for the setting the fires, he told them he had been drinking when he broke into the houses. In each case, according to arrest reports he said he used a lighter to ignite flammable materials he could find inside the homes - clothes in a laundry room at one house, paint cans near the back door of another.

Detectives, firefighters and State Fire Marshal officials are investigating whether Vasquez could be responsible for other suspicious fires in the area.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.