A domestic violence situation in Lake Worth Beach ended with an apartment fire, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and a Lake Worth man in jail.
It started with children’s books in a mailbox, according to what Reginald Clemons’ girlfriend told PBSO.
Clemons, 26, was arrested Monday night on charges of arson and battery. He posted $60,000 bond Friday.
His girlfriend didn’t say which children’s books Clemons found in her mailbox at her Sunset Avenue apartment building on July 18, but she did say Clemons’ initial response was “You f—— ho’! You f—— around on me, you b—-?”
Clemons followed by throwing the books at her, then throwing a punch to her jaw, she told the detective. She left and got on the phone with her mother. When she came back, she saw Clemons rolling away in his blue BMW and her apartment on fire.
PBSO says surveillance video backs up this order of events. Also, the PBSO detective noticed she didn’t smell of lighter fluid.
A Palm Beach Fire Rescue investigator told PBSO that the fire appeared to be started with lighter fluid and they found an empty plastic bottle of lighter fluid on a shelf near the kitchen. The fire rescue investigator also showed the PBSO detective where she believed the fire started, the bedroom, and the bed and the couch had been “engulfed in flames.”
Clemons’ girlfriend said that figured, as he’d bought the bed and the couch. She also said they bought a grill, charcoal and lighter fluid at Dollar General three days earlier. The grill was still in its box.
He did seven months in prison in 2018 on a pack of charges that include aggravated assault with a weapon (but no intent to kill); heroin possession and possession with intent to sell or deliver; cocaine possession with intent; aggravated fleeing; and obstructing an investigation.
A Palm Beach man fired shots. Another hit a house with his car. One faces a murder charge
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