TAVARES, Fla.—A Tangerine man accused of setting his girlfriend’s rental SUV on fire is facing an arson charge and a drug charge after Tavares police said they found a baggie of oxycodone pills in the vehicle’s center console during his arrest, according to an arrest affidavit..
Shortly before 8:15 a.m. Sunday, Tavares Police Department received a report of a vehicle fire at an undisclosed location.
A caller reported multiple people leaving a home after a vehicle door was opened and flames emerged. TPD and Tavares Fire Department responded and firefighters extinguished the fire, according to the affidavit. While TPD was on scene, a woman arrived and said she was renting the SUV, and believed her boyfriend, Synjohn Bradford, may have started the fire because they were fighting after she caught him cheating.
TPD canvassed the area and were provided a video that showed a man police say is Bradford, get out of a Ford F-250 and lean into the passenger side of the SUV. A second video provided to police showed him leaning into the driver’s side, and a third video captured the SUV doors open with smoke pouring out. Bradford is the only person seen in all three videos, the affidavit states.
A witness provided cell phone video that showed Bradford standing next to the driver’s side while smoke was billowing from the SUV; the video also captured the license plate on the F-250, and when the officer ran the plate, it came back to Bradford, according to the affidavit.
About an hour later, TPD spotted the F-250 traveling toward the scene and performed a traffic stop. Bradford was driving and still wearing the same clothes he was wearing in the videos provided to police, the arresting officer noted in the affidavit.
Bradford was placed under arrest for arson and refused to answer questions, but stated the rental vehicle was his girlfriend’s and she “would get him out of jail,” the affidavit states. While officers were taking an inventory of the truck before it was towed, they found a baggie of oxycodone pills that weighed 16 grams in the console, and Bradford was also arrested for possession. He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was released on $15,000 bond.
