Man Arrested, Suspected of Attempted Arson

By Chad Dorsett, WSNW, Seneca

 

A 24-year old Westminster man is arrested over the weekend after authorities investigate an attempt to set fire to a pickup truck.

Charges by the Walhalla Police Department and the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office against Richard Shane Welch are listed as burglary in the second degree, malicious injury to personal property, and attempted arson.

The Interim Walhalla Police Chief Ronald Wilbanks says Welch was placed in custody around 2pm Saturday when city fire fighters discovered gasoline poured inside a Dodge Ram truck that was parked behind a Walhalla business.

A report on file with the Sheriff’s Office names Welch as the suspect in an early Saturday burglary at a home on the Old Walhalla Highway, where a five-gallon can of gasoline was stolen from a storage building.

It seems that a .357 Revolver was dropped at the scene of that crime.