TRENTON — A Jones County man was arrested and charged with four felonies Sunday after witnesses led deputies to him following an investigation of two weekend fires.
Jones County deputies located Patrick Leo Mahoney, 54, of Trenton, during a license check near Highway 58 North and Middle Road. Mahoney, who had no physical address, was arrested on felony warrants and charged with second degree arson, burning certain buildings, burning personal property and felony breaking and or entering.
He allegedly smoldered a pack house at 799 Plantation Road Friday night and a vehicle at 476 Stones Chapel Road Saturday afternoon.
There were no injuries and Mahoney was jailed under a $30,000 secure bond.
He was arrested as a passenger of a vehicle, whose driver had no connection to the crime, said Capt.Justin Eimer, of the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.
“I do not know what his motive was,” Eimer said. “The information (investigators) obtained from the victims and witnesses in the area basically identified Mr. Mahoney.”
A victim who was not identified was one of many church members in the area who assisted Mahoney when he was “down on his luck,” according to a Jones County Sheriff’s Office press release.
“He was actually preying on the kindness of the church members,” Eimer said.
Mahoney, who at one point lived in the Pollocksville area, apparently bounced around several residences in the Plantation Road area.
“It’s unfortunate when a community opens up its arms to a person and they are repaid in such a foul manner,” Sheriff Danny R. Heath wrote in the release. “Hopefully the citizens in the Plantation Road area can sleep a little easier, knowing that the person responsible for these fires is now behind bars.”
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.