April Newell (Photo/Prince George’s County Fire Dept.)
Officials say a woman who was photographed lying on the ground with her dog guarding her after fleeing a house fire has been charged with setting an earlier fire in the same house.
Prince George’s County Fire/EMS spokesman Mark Brady said in a news release Monday that 34-year-old April Newell of Landover Hills has been charged with arson.
Brady says that on Dec. 2, Newell was photographed lying apparently unconscious in a neighbor’s yard with her pit bull guarding her after fleeing a fire in her home.
Officials say that while the fire marshal’s investigators were looking into that blaze, they found evidence that an unreported fire had occurred the day before. The Dec. 2 fire is still under investigation.
Newell was arrested Dec. 31.