An Allen Park man is facing a hefty prison sentence after a jury in California found him guilty of going on a fiery rampage, torching trailers belonging to a major trucking company in a series of arsons that spanned the nation, ClickOnDetroit reported. Viorel Pricop, 66, didn't just torch trailers in California, where six fires earned him his convictions Tuesday; he reportedly lit up 18 other trailers across states including Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama causing headaches for Swift Transportation from 2020 through 2022.
The destructive spree by Pricop against Swift Transportation was at night, targeting parked trailers with flames usually starting near the tires, and now he could spend the rest of his life in prison according to the US Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California. After piecing together a pattern in the method of the fires, investigators tied Pricop to the sprawling arson case using cell tower data, linking a device in his vehicle to locations near the fires, in a sweeping investigation that involved multiple federal, state, and local agencies.
During a comprehensive 16-day trial, jurors were presented with irrefutable evidence such as Pricop's cellphone data that pinpointed him at or near the scenes of the blazing crimes, a navigation device in his truck connecting to nearby cell towers around the time the fires were set, and a horde of incriminating items uncovered during a search, ranging from a gas torch to logbooks lined up with the fire locations.
Prosecutors laid out Pricop's past with Swift Transportation, revealing a tangled web of grievances that led to his criminal outburst—their history includes a prior arrest after Pricop was nabbed with stolen goods from one of Swift's 'bait trailers' in Michigan, and he served time for tax offenses and transporting stolen goods not long before he started his arson series in 2020, a detail unearthed in the joint probe between the ATF and the New Mexico State Fire Marshal’s Office. Special Agent in Charge Brendan Iber of the ATF's Phoenix Field Division noted the painstaking effort by his team, "We have methodically worked each of the fire scenes, collected evidence, interviewed witnesses, and reviewed video footage to help us solve these arson cases," Iber's dedication underlining the complex nature of interstate crime-solving.
With sentencing set for June 7, Pricop could be slapped with a minimum of five years behind bars for each of his six counts of arson, although each count carries the potential for up to 20 years.
