By By Kerry Whipple-Bean
Three Brewton residents are in jail on second-degree arson charges following a fire at a hunting camp last week.
Sheriff’s deputies are also investigating an earlier fire involving one dog that was killed and a second that was injured; additional arrests could be made in that case, officials said.
According to Escambia County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mike Lambert, those arrested include:
Lambert said a cabin at the Maddox Pasture hunting camp, located off U.S. Hwy. 29, was burned to the ground sometime Thursday night, but the crime was only discovered Friday.
During an investigation, officials with the sheriff’s department and the state fire marshal’s office determined the fire was arson. The suspects in the case have had a dispute with one of the owners of the hunting camp, Lambert said.
The dogs that were burned in a previous fire at another location also belonged to co-owners of the hunting camp.
The county’s animal cruelty investigator is also working on the case, Lambert said.