3 More Held in Charles Arsons

One Had Interest In Firefighting

A Charles County sheriff's deputy views the damage to one of the homes at the Hunters Brooke subdivision. (Matt Houston -- The AP)

Federal agents arrested three more suspects yesterday in the massive arson fires that ravaged a Charles County subdivision Dec. 6 -- including a volunteer firefighter whose company was dispatched to the blaze.

Maryland U.S. Attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio's office identified them as Jeremy Daniel Parady, 20, of Accokeek; Michael McIntosh Everhart, 20, of Waldorf; and Patrick Stephen Walsh, 20, of Fort Washington. They were charged with arson and are being held in the Charles County jail.

They are expected to make an initial appearance before a federal magistrate in Greenbelt tomorrow, authorities said.

They join the fourth man in custody, Aaron L. Speed, 21, a guard for Security Services of America, the company that was hired to provide overnight protection for the Hunters Brooke development, where 10 houses were destroyed and 16 were damaged in the pre-dawn fires. Speed was arrested Thursday after giving contradictory and incriminating statements to Charles County investigators and federal agents. He was also charged with arson.

The charges indicate that investigators now believe that the arsons were the work not of a lone security guard, distraught over the death of an infant son, but rather of confederates. Speed said Parady was involved in setting the fires with him, law enforcement sources said. Sources also said that Parady implicated Walsh and Everhart in statements to investigators.

The motives that might have bound the four men together were unknown yesterday, but fragments of a shared history began to emerge. Parady's sister said her brother and Everhart "were inseparable," although they became estranged several years ago. Parady and Speed attended Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School in Waldorf together. Speed and Everhart attended Westlake High School in Waldorf at the same time, according to Katie O'Malley-Simpson, a spokeswoman for the Charles County school system.

Parady, like Speed, has an interest in volunteer firefighting, according to family members, and is listed on the Web site of the Accokeek Volunteer Fire Department as a "riding member." Personnel from the Accokeek station were dispatched to the fires at 5:08 a.m., according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent in support of Speed's arrest.

Wayne Jordan, president of the Accokeek volunteers, said yesterday that in July, Parady became a probationary member, meaning that he could ride with fire crews but not actively engage in firefighting. He said Parady was not on duty the morning of the arsons and was not involved in the response to the fires. He added that Parady, who was suspended pending the outcome of the arson investigation, did not have a history of disciplinary problems at the 50-member department.

"We never had any issues with him," Jordan said.

According to the Web site, Parady was part of a crew that received "congratulations and a good job" for its work on an Oct. 23 call to a home where a woman was suffering from a drug overdose.

Parady's sister and fiancee said the man they know was committed to firefighting and could not have been involved in the crime. "My brother spends more time being at the firehouse than he does with his fiancee," said Jamie Parady, 21. "He devoted his life to the firehouse."

Mary Black, the fiancee, said Parady was at home with her from 2 a.m. until nearly 8 a.m. Dec. 6 and could not have set the fires. She also said he was not on duty the morning of the fire and was not among those called to the blaze.

The women said Parady decided to become a firefighter after the death of a friend in St. Mary's County when Parady and the friend were young teenagers.

"He had a really close friend of his pass away in a fire when a building collapsed on him before the firefighters could get there," Black said. "That's what got him into being a firefighter."