By Wesley Muller
The Sun Herald
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — Authorities arrested a former firefighter on an arson charge Thursday, making him the sixth person named in the so-called Hancock County “fire cult.”
Hancock County sheriff’s investigator A.J. Gambino said Michael Spencer Smith, 25, faces one charge of arson of woods/marsh. He is a former member of the Clermont Harbor Volunteer Fire Department.
Though the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office continues to make arrests in the case, the Mississippi Forestry Commission has taken the lead in the investigation, Gambino said.
“We assisted Forestry in making two more arrests this week,” he said.
The second arrest Gambino referred to occurred Wednesday and resulted from additional charges filed against Marie Estella Gill, 27, a former firefighter with Clermont Harbor VFD whom authorities suspect was the ringleader in the case.
“She appears to be the ringleader of some sort of fire club or fire cult,” Gambino said in a Jan. 23 interview. “She was able to gather other people to get involved with the fires.”
On Wednesday, authorities arrested Gill on a charge of arson of woods/marsh, making it the eighth felony count filed against her.
Gill was first arrested Jan. 15 and released on bond a day later. Deputies arrested her on additional charges Jan. 23.
Booking records indicate she remained in the Hancock County jail on the second set of charges until she was released on bond Tuesday afternoon. She was free for about 16 hours until the latest charge surfaced, prompting her to turn herself in.
She immediately bonded out on her own recognizance.
The eight charges against Gill include one count of arson of a dwelling, five counts of arson of woods/marsh, one count of conspiracy to commit arson and one count of tampering with evidence.
Smith, the sixth person arrested, is a Bay St. Louis resident and served with Clermont Harbor VFD at the time, Gambino said.
He is the fourth person from that department to be arrested in the case.
Deputies booked Smith into the Hancock County jail at 1:55 p.m. He was released about eight hours later on a $5,000 bond.
It’s unclear which incident authorities charged Smith in.
As they are no longer leading the investigation, sheriff’s officials deferred requests for additional information to the Forestry Commission. Officials there could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Gambino said the Forestry Commission typically takes charge of arson investigations whenever a fire involves public property, such as the alleged arson fire that burned a wooded area in the Logtown community Jan. 9.
Others charged in the case:
-- Crystal Mooneyhan, 27, of Bay St. Louis, on one count of arson of woods/marsh
-- Korri-Don Jones, 29, of Pearlington, on one count of conspiracy to commit arson and two counts of accessory after the fact of arson
-- Leslie Cheramie, 39, of Bay St. Louis, on one count each of conspiracy to commit arson and accessory after the fact of arson
-- Orenthial “O.J.” Smith, 33, of Bay St. Louis, on one count of accessory after the fact of arson
Mooneyhan and O.J. Smith served on the Clermont Harbor VFD when the alleged arsons occurred. Cheramie and Jones served with the West Hancock Volunteer Fire Department.
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