JACKSON COUNTY, Mississippi -- Federal agents believe a Jackson County man is responsible for deliberately setting fire to a cell phone tower behind a Moss Point motel earlier this month.
According to a federal affidavit filed in U.S. District Court by Special Agent Shane Lynes of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, sufficient evidence exists to charge Manuel Alejandro DeJesus with setting fire to the cell tower in violation of U.S. Code which prohibits interfering with interstate commerce.
The criminal complaint filed by Lynes states that the Moss Point Fire Department responded to a call of a transformer fire on March 2 behind the Comfort Inn and Cracker Barrel near the Highway 63-Interstate 10 interchange.
Fire personnel at the scene discovered it was not a transformer on fire, but rather a generator inside a locked cell tower fence. Once the fire was extinguished, investigation determined someone had pulled the power meters from the tower and threw them over the fence, removed parts from the generator and intentionally cut several wires.
In addition, several bottles with rags, some with fire damage and some without, had been placed a different spots around the tower structure. At that point, fire personnel notified the Moss Point Police Department, and in turn the ATF and FBI responded to the scene, as well as officials from the wireless and utility companies.
On March 8, Lynes and members of the Pascagoula Police Department executed a search warrant on DeJesus’ 2009 Dodge Ram 1500, which surveillance video showed near the scene of the fire. Items found inside the truck included wire cutters, a GPS device and a sign with the name American Tower -- owners of the cell tower -- written on it.
The GPS device showed DeJesus’ truck at the Cracker Barrel just prior to the fire. On March 17, agents obtained surveillance footage which showed DeJesus’ truck pulling into the Cracker Barrel parking lot at 8:40 the morning of the fire -- matching the time shown on the GPS device -- and then departing just after smoke was first visible about 9:26 a.m.
Four days later, the Mississippi Crime Lab confirmed that a fingerprint found on one of the power meters which had been thrown over the fence were a match with DeJesus. In addtion, an ATF Certified Fire Investigator made a final determination that the fire was deliberately set and classified it as incendiary.
It’s important to note DeJesus is at this point a suspect and has yet to be charged with the crime. Lynes’ affidavit is the first step in the process and seeks to have a federal arrest warrant issued. DeJesus is also a suspect in two other cell tower fires in Jackson County, but as yet has not been charged in those cases, either.
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March 25, 2022 at 11:33PM
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Jackson County man suspected of setting fire to Moss Point cell tower - gulflive.com
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