RUSK, Texas (EAST TEXAS NEWS) – A man was arrested after allegedly breaking down the doors of a house in Rusk and setting fire to a large shed behind it.
Jimmy Curtis Caveness III, 34, was arrested on August 1 on arson charges.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained through an Open Records request, he was found on a property on CR 2218 around 11:30 p.m. on July 31 as a large structure burned nearby.
He had already been escorted off the property that same day, according to the document, but told an officer: “I can burn whatever I want. I live here.”
The two residents of the home said they feared for their lives. The investigation showed that a back glass door had been shattered and that someone had entered a shop, taken blue spray paint, and defaced the west wall of the house with a lewd figure.
An accelerant was also removed from the shed, the affidavit states. Caveness complied and the agent arrested him, who found a lighter and a knife on him. He was booked into the Cherokee County Jail on charges of property damage and burglary, in addition to arson. His total bond was set at $53,500. At the time of this report, the man remained in custody.
A team of firefighters responded and extinguished the shed fire, but it was deemed a total loss.
