The New York City man charged with setting a massive blaze that damaged more than 135 vehicles at a Brooklyn shopping center told investigators that he was “motivated to start the 
fire by his belief that others used the parked vehicles for sexual activity.”
Evon Stephens, 23, was named yesterday in a federal complaint[1] charging him with starting Monday’s seven-alarm blaze inside the garage at the Kings Plaza Shopping Center. The garage was used by car dealerships to store vehicles for sale.
Stephens, investigators allege, initially torched a Mercedes-Benz, with the fire spreading to other vehicles. As he departed the garage Monday morning, Stephens “made an obscene hand gesture” towards a surveillance camera.
After being apprehended Monday afternoon, Stephens told police that he routinely went to the garage and “accessed vehicles” owned by auto dealers. He reportedly confessed to starting the fire because he thought the parked autos were being used by “others” for sexual liaisons[2].
The Brooklyn blaze--which took hours to extinguish--was battled by hundreds of New York City firefighters. According to city officials, six civilians and 22 firefighters suffered minor injuries in connection with the fire.
Stephens, facing a felony arson charge, is being held at the federal detention center in Brooklyn. The accused firebug is pictured above in a surveillance photo from the Brooklyn garage.
References
- ^ federal complaint (thesmokinggun.com)
- ^ sexual liaisons (thesmokinggun.com)