Reward being offered for information on Gumlog Fire

A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered by the State Insurance Commissioner’s office for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for a fire last week in the Gumlog Community.

It happened on Pinehurst Road in the Fishermen’s Cove subdivision Tuesday night, January 24.

Commissioner King says, “Under the direction of the Franklin County Magistrate Judge’s Office, officers from the Franklin County Marshal’s Office boarded up the residential structure due to its dangerous state of disrepair…Hours later, the structure was set ablaze in what has been determined to be an intentional fire.”

Franklin County Marshal Freddy Akin said the fire was suspicious because the house had no electricity and no running water.

Franklin County Sheriff Steve Thomas said the house was being used as a trap house – that is, a house where drugs are sold. He said his deputies had made arrests at that house previously.

Akin said after numerous attempts to get the owner to clean up the property, Magistrate Judge Cody Grizzle ordered the owner to vacate the property and not return.

However, he did return, and Judge Grizzle ordered the owner and a tenant to serve 60 days in jail.

The house had been the subject of numerous complaints from Fishermen’s Cove residents who asked the County repeatedly to clean up that house and other similar structures further back in the woods.

Commissioner King said anyone with information on the fire should call the Georgia Arson Control Hotline at 1-800-252-5804.