By Wes Muller
The Sun Herald
HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. — Michael Gill is struggling with a life that was suddenly turned upside down when his wife was arrested less than two weeks ago, accused of being the ringleader of a “fire cult” responsible for several arsons in Hancock County.
“I’m pretty much lost,” he said. “It’s all just new to me.”
On Jan. 15, deputies arrested Marie Gill on arson charges, along with two other people.
The news came as a shock to the community as all three were volunteer firefighters.
The 27-year-old mother of three was released from jail on bond the next day but found herself behind bars again the following week, facing additional charges.
She is now one of five firefighters charged in the case, which sheriff’s Investigator A.J. Gambino described as a “fire cult” that was setting fires and responding to the calls to extinguish them. Marie Gill is facing seven felony charges: one count of arson of a dwelling, four counts of arson of woods/marsh, one count of conspiracy to commit arson and one count of tampering with evidence.
Others charged include:
-- Crystal Mooneyhan, 27, of Bay St. Louis, facing one count of arson of woods/marsh.
-- Korri-Don Jones, 29, of Pearlington, facing one count of conspiracy to commit arson and two counts of accessory after the fact of arson.
-- Leslie Cheramie, 39, of Bay St. Louis, facing one count of conspiracy to commit arson and one count of accessory after the fact of arson.
-- Orenthial “O.J.” Smith, 33, of Bay St. Louis, facing one count of accessory after the fact of arson.
Gill, Mooneyhan and Smith served on the Clermont Harbor Volunteer Fire Department when the alleged arsons occurred, and Cheramie and Jones served with the West Hancock Volunteer Fire Department, Gambino said.
Officials have so far connected one or more of the five to the following alleged arsons:
-- A Sept. 11 woods fire on Colley Road.
-- A Sept. 14 fire that destroyed an abandoned house on Third Street, only a few blocks from the Clermont Harbor fire station.
-- A Nov. 12 marsh fire on North Railroad Street.
-- A Dec. 1 marsh fire near the Clermont Harbor pier.
-- A Jan. 9 fire that burned a wooded area in the Logtown community.
Investigators have still not ruled out the possibility of additional charges and additional suspects.
“We still continue to look into things,” Gambino said. “Anything’s possible at this point.”
A family torn apart
Michael Gill was shocked to learn of the accusations against his wife, and said the other firefighters are “overall decent people.”
“I don’t think they’re hardened criminals that should be sitting in jail with $50,000 or $100,000 bonds,” he said. “You’ve got to think just a couple months ago they were responding to emergency calls and pulling people out of bad wrecks.”
While his wife remains behind bars in lieu of $150,000 bond, Gill struggles to balance his offshore job with raising three young children.
“It really puts a strain not only on my life, but my kids’ life and my mother’s life because she’s having to take care of the kids while I’m at work,” he said.
He said he hasn’t told his kids much about the situation.
“They’re already hurting enough that she’s not there,” he said. “They don’t understand where she’s at. They don’t understand what she’s being accused of. They just know that Mommy is gone.”
Out of character
“I know that Marie is not an arsonist and she’s never done anything like she’s accused of,” Gill said, pointing out his wife had never really before been interested in firefighting.
Marie Gill and Mooneyhan, the other female firefighter charged in the case, are old friends from high school who had parted ways but somehow ended up “linking back up,” Michael Gill said.
Gill said he has spoken with his wife only once, briefly, since her arrest, and that jail officials won’t tell him anything or allow him to send mail to his wife.
“Whether it’s true or it’s not true, I believe that the justice system will work, and the truth will come out eventually,” he said. “But right now it seems that all of the other people that are involved, for whether it’s personal reasons or whatever reasons they have, it seems like they’re pointing the finger at Marie.”
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(c)2015 The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)
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