COLUMBUS, Ga. — Police say Anthony Stephen Hooper, 21, told officers he started a fire Saturday morning that engulfed a mobile home because he had nothing else to do.
A Pine Grove Mobile Home Park resident saw the suspect standing outside Lot 514, 3150 Plateau Drive, with a lighter in his hand early Saturday. She thought he looked suspicious, and she went inside her home to check on her children, police said.
When she went back out, the mobile home was in flames, and the suspect, now wearing a different shirt, was walking away, reports state.
Officers found the suspect at a nearby mobile home, though he didn’t admit to starting the blaze until an officer told him to “just tell the truth,” police said.
That’s when the suspect said he lighted a handful of pine straw on fire and threw it under the mobile home. He then changed shirts and walked off, reports state.
“Subject also stated to police ... that he wanted to light the pine straw on fire because he had nothing else to do,” reports state.
Hooper is charged with first-degree arson, police said.