A 48-year-old Statesville woman is accused of handing two teenagers a lighter and instructions on how to burn down a house under construction, according to investigators with the Iredell County Sheriff's Office. Amber Lee Christley was arrested last Wednesday and now faces felony charges tied to a fire that authorities say gutted a home in the 100 block of Crosby Road near Statesville.
The blaze happened on July 10, when the unfinished home was broken into, stolen from, and set on fire, according to the sheriff's office. As reported by the Charlotte Observer, Detective Isaac Creasy identified two teenagers, ages 15 and 16, as suspects and connected them to the construction site near Statesville, a town about 40 miles north of uptown Charlotte.
Investigators allege Christley orchestrated the felony by giving the two teens a lighter and telling them how to set the house on fire. The two juveniles are now charged with felony burning of a building or structure in the process of construction, along with misdemeanor breaking or entering and two counts of felony breaking and entering and larceny.
Adult Faces Conspiracy and Delinquency Charges
Christley herself was charged with felony burning of a building under construction and felony conspiracy, according to the sheriff's office. She was also charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. Under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-316.1, an adult who knowingly causes, encourages, or aids a minor in committing an act that could lead to a delinquency adjudication is guilty of that Class 1 misdemeanor, according to FindLaw.
The felony burning charge itself stems from North Carolina General Statutes § 14-62, which makes it a felony to wantonly and willfully set fire to a building or structure under construction intended as a dwelling or business, per Minick Law. Because felony conspiracy charges require proof that two or more people agreed to commit an unlawful act, the severity of Christley's conspiracy count is tied directly to the felony classification of the arson itself, according to guidance from the UNC School of Government.
Racial Slurs Spray-Painted Weeks Later
The same two teenagers are also facing three counts of misdemeanor willful and wanton injury to real property and three counts of misdemeanor ethnic intimidation. The sheriff's office began investigating on July 30 after racial slurs were spray-painted on a church vehicle and other properties in the Statesville area, per the Observer's report. Detective Creasy's investigation tied the same juveniles to that vandalism as well.
Ethnic intimidation is defined under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-401.14 as damaging property, defacing property, assaulting, or threatening someone because of their race, color, religion, nationality, or country of origin, and it is classified as a Class 1 misdemeanor, according to the law firm Beaver Courie. It remains unclear whether prosecutors intend to seek bias-crime enhancements under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-3(c), which allows misdemeanors motivated by a victim's race, color, religion, nationality, or country of origin to be elevated to higher offense classes — including bumping a Class 1 misdemeanor up to a Class I felony, according to the Duke University Police Department. The total monetary damage assessed at the Crosby Road site has also not been disclosed, and it is not yet clear whether Christley's conspiracy charge stems from the July 10 fire, the July 30 vandalism, or both.
Juvenile Court and Statutory Penalties
Because the two suspects are 15 and 16 years old, their charges are being handled through the state's juvenile justice system rather than adult criminal court. Under North Carolina's framework, charges against minors that age are processed through the North Carolina Department of Public Safety's Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which is why the teens' names have not been released.
A Class 1 misdemeanor conviction, the classification covering both the ethnic intimidation counts and Christley's contributing-to-delinquency charges, carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to 120 days in jail along with discretionary court fines, according to sentencing guidelines cited by Beaver Courie. Detective Creasy, who led the investigation tying the teens to both the arson and the vandalism, joined the Iredell County Sheriff's Office in 2020 after completing Mitchell Community College's Basic Law Enforcement Training program as part of the agency's Deputy Sheriff Candidate Initiative, according to a 2021 report from the Statesville Record & Landmark.
The case lands in a county where property crime has generally been trending downward. State Bureau of Investigation data reported by WCNC last September showed overall crime in Iredell County fell 56.7% and property crime dropped 63% between 2014 and 2025, even as the county's population grew to nearly 210,000 residents. The Iredell County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Darren Campbell, is headquartered at 231 North Tradd Street in Statesville and continues to investigate the case.
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