Facebook yields tip in arsons

Paul Carr has had a small hand in reporting the local crime scene for the past four years, but he’s never had a hand in an indictment.

Carr is the creator and administrator of a Facebook group titled Forbidden Hillcrest, an all-purpose message board where residents of some Little Rock neighborhoods gripe about break-ins and burglars or spread helpful information to neighbors about other crimes affecting their lives.

But last summer, Carr’s group drew a few more regulars: federal investigators.

Comments made on Carr’s group by 43-year old Lacey Moore about a rash of fires at a Little Rock apartment complex, coupled with her proximity to the fires as a tenant at the complex, led investigators to arrest and charge her with eight counts of arson and possession of an incendiary device.

In May, hundreds of Facebook users visited the Forbidden Hillcrest page after a wave of fires inflicted millions of dollars in damage at the Forest Place Apartments and displaced scores of residents.

Moore was one of those who vented on Facebook about the fires, which started Feb. 24, 2013. She voiced concern about a rumor that all of them were arson.

Moore’s comments piqued the interest of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent David Oliver and other state and local investigators in a task force investigation.

At a hearing two days after Moore’s Feb. 10 arrest, Oliver testified that investigators first were drawn to Moore because her apartment was close to the origin of some fires.

Armed with details from a 1989 forensic study of female arson psychiatric profiles, Moore’s role in the social-media dialogue was also a red flag to investigators.

“The study showed that female arsonists, which are very rare, the common motive they share is that they’re attention seeking,” Oliver said. “[Moore] was quite active talking about these fires on social media.”

Oliver spoke at Moore’s detention hearing in federal court Wednesday, where a judge ruled she will remain in the custody of U.S. marshals until she receives a mental evaluation at a federal facility.

Carr said he never heard from investigators but did receive many personal messages, as early as June, from Forbidden Hillcrest participants who knew Moore was a suspect.

“I said I appreciated the tip,” he said. “But I didn’t [publish the messages]. I didn’t have any evidence. She could have been innocent. I didn’t want to do that to anyone.”

After Moore’s arrest, which detectives said led her to admit that she set several of the fires because of stress that was aggravated by abuse of a variety of pills, her comments have gotten a lot more attention, Carr said.

“She definitely stood out of the group, but I didn’t know what to make of [her comments],” Carr said. “We get a lot of disjointed comments, but she definitely stood out.”

Carr recalled that while administrating the chains of comments, one commenter posed an eerie question: What if the arsonist is reading this right now?

“Like they’re maybe with you, watching, even commenting,” Carr said. “I think I made the regretful comment that, ‘No, we have only innocent people here.’”

A few days after a June 4 fire at the complex, the fifth in less than four months, Moore wrote from her Facebook account: “They will NEVER find the person who did it. I promise. Unless someone was seen doing it.”

She later wrote: “If there are no witnesses, they can’t convict anyone. Unless they’re trying to cover up another crime that can link them to someone specific. [ForestPlace] residents have to look out for one another. We’re a family. And as a united front, we can overcome anything …”

Oliver said serial female arsonists are “rare.” But he said that Moore’s “attention-seeking” behavior, coupled with her history of struggles with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and suicidal tendencies, fit the profile of a female fire starter.

Scott Barker, a fire investigator and president of the Arkansas chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators, said he’s seen about a dozen arson cases involving women in his 15-year career.

Arson is seldom just a crime of passion or opportunity. It often stems from a a deep-seeded mental or emotional compulsion, and when it’s a woman setting the fire, it tends to be less random, Barker said.

“There are different motives behind the two [genders], completely different. Generally, women tend to be a little more personal when it comes to it,” Barker said.

It also was revealed Wednesday that Moore was a person of interest in a series of car fires set at 1425 Kavanaugh Blvd. in late May while she was staying there with friends.

She went on to post on Facebook in late May, “we are positive (well pretty positive) that we know who set the Kavanaugh fires. I was staying there … The [Forest Place] fire and the Kavanaugh fire are not related [because] the common denominator between the fires is ME, and I had NOTHING to do with either.”

Moore did not confess to those fires, nor was she charged with them, but Oliver described her behavior as suspicious.

“Everywhere Lacey [Moore] went, fire seemed to follow her,” Oliver said during her detention hearing.

In August, Moore was arrested and charged with felony theft by receiving after a painting of a monkey valued at $20,000 disappeared from the 1425 Kavanaugh Blvd. home of a friend. It was found in her possession.

Moore’s outspoken behavior wasn’t limited to Facebook.

Days before the final Forest Place fire on June 28, Moore became the standard-bearer for aggrieved and displaced Forest Place residents when she filed a class-action lawsuit against the owner of the complex, Maxus Properties, and was the chief complainant.

In the suit, Moore alleged management at the complex was complacent in its security response after the first batch of fires, and that residents were required to pay for renters’ insurance that didn’t cover items lost in the fires.

Barker said attention-seeking behavior isn’t limited to women, but Moore’s involvement in a class-action suit against those she was accused of victimizing goes further than the average attention seeker.

“I’ve never experienced someone trying to take that avenue,” Barker said. “Most people try to stay out of the picture.”

Court officials said Moore was scheduled for a deposition in the civil suit, only to be arrested an hour before by federal and local investigators.

Since her arrest, Maxus Properties has filed a countersuit against Moore, one seeking to have her pay for the millions of dollars in property lost in the fires as well as the relocation costs incurred by former tenants.

Neither Moore’s attorneys from the Davidson Law Firm nor Maxus Properties’ attorney, Ashleigh Phillips, would comment on the case now that its lead plaintiff is awaiting mental evaluation at a federal facility.

Her federal arson trial was originally scheduled for March 4 but was delayed last week until Oct. 7.