Volunteer firefighter arrested for allegedly setting fires, responding to them with his department
Justin Sholly seen in this undated police handout. (Montgomery County District Attorney)
(SOUDERTON, Pa.) — A volunteer firefighter has been arrested for allegedly setting fires and then responding to them with his fire department, according to officials in eastern Pennsylvania.
Justin Sholly, a 29-year-old member of the Perseverance Volunteer Fire Company in Souderton, was arrested on Sunday on charges including arson, according to court documents.
The first fire was Friday morning, when the Perseverance Volunteer Fire Company and other agencies responded to a fire at a detached garage/barn, according to the criminal complaint. The blaze was about 50 feet behind a home that had 10 people inside, the complaint said.
Hours later, the Perseverance Volunteer Fire Company responded to a trash fire, the complaint said.
Then early Saturday morning, crews responded to a property where there were multiple fires coming from a barn, a shed, an outhouse, three cars and a gazebo, according to the complaint. The fires were near a home with eight people inside, the document said.
Investigators used license plate reader databases to zero in on Sholly as a suspect, according to the criminal complaint.
Sholly admitted to setting all three fires, according to the court documents. After two of the blazes, Sholly went to his fire department and then responded back to the fire scenes with the other firefighters, documents said.
Sholly said one of the fires was near property he believed belonged to an employer who fired him in 2015, the complaint said.
The Perseverance Volunteer Fire Company said Sholly has been suspended from the department “with intent to remove upon future outcomes.”
“The actions described in the criminal charges stand in complete opposition to the core values, mission, and dedication of our company,” the fire department said in a statement on Tuesday.
Terrion Arnold is seen in a booking photo released by the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office on June 24, 2026. (Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office)
(TAMPA, Fla.) — Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold faces multiple felony charges in Florida for allegedly orchestrating a kidnapping in which three men were robbed and beaten at gunpoint, authorities said.
The 23-year-old NFL player is one of seven people arrested in connection with the “targeted armed robbery” in Tampa, police said.
Arnold is accused of “coordinating and directing” the codefendants to “lure” the three men to an apartment, where they were allegedly beaten in retaliation for the alleged theft of more than $200,000 worth of his personal property from an Airbnb he had stayed at with friends days earlier in Largo, according to the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office.
The men, all in their late teens, were allegedly beaten and pistol-whipped by two of the co-defendants, while a third streamed the assault to Arnold and other suspects who were traveling to the apartment, police said. Investigators uncovered a group chat in which Arnold and another suspect allegedly gave directions during the assault, police said.
After arriving at the apartment, Arnold allegedly directed the other suspects to go inside, at which point the victims were robbed during the ongoing assault, police said.
Nearly two hours after arriving at the apartment, the victims were escorted out by armed suspects and left in their vehicle, police said. Arnold is not said to have entered the apartment or interacted with the victims, based on the police statement.
The incident occurred on Feb. 4, three days after multiple items belonging to Arnold and others were stolen from an Airbnb he had rented, according to police. On Feb. 3, Arnold and others reported a loss totaling more than $250,000 to the Largo Police Department, police said.
Arnold allegedly suspected that two of the three victims were responsible for the theft, though investigators ultimately determined that none of them were involved, Tampa police said.
“Investigators believe, based on evidence gathered, that Arnold was the primary conspirator,” the Tampa Police Department said in a statement Wednesday.
The victims reported the incident to Tampa police and “positively identified the suspects,” police said. The three victims had “visible injuries from being battered,” police said.
Cell phone evidence and “corroborating testimony” from the co-defendants also “helped establish Arnold’s role in planning and directing the crimes,” the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said.
Arnold surrendered to authorities Wednesday night, prosecutors said. He was booked on four counts of armed robbery and four counts of kidnapping, online jail records show. He faces a potential sentence of up to life in prison if convicted on the charges, prosecutors said.
He remains held on no bond following his initial appearance in Hillsborough County court on Thursday. His pretrial detention hearing has been scheduled for Monday. The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said it plans to argue that Arnold should remain behind bars until his trial.
Among the six codefendants arrested in connection with the case, four men are being held without bond, while two women pleaded guilty on Wednesday to robbery and kidnapping charges, according to the state attorney’s office. As part of their plea agreements, they are required to testify truthfully in proceedings related to the case, the office said.
“No one has the right to take the law into their own hands. A dispute over missing property does not justify kidnapping, violence, or retaliation,” Hillsborough County State Attorney Suzy Lopez said in a statement. “This arrest is the result of months of investigative work and collaboration between the Tampa Police Department and our prosecutors. We will continue to pursue justice for the three victims by holding everyone accountable for their roles in this crime.”
Arnold’s sports management team said he “categorically denies any involvement in the matters underlying the allegations made against him and maintains his innocence.”
“There is no credible evidence linking Mr. Arnold to these allegations,” Denise White, CEO of EAG Sports and Entertainment Agency, said in a statement to ABC News. “Instead, the government appears to be relying on testimony from multiple convicted felons who have admitted their own involvement and may have substantial incentives to shift blame in an effort to lessen their sentences.”
The Lions said in a statement to ABC Detroit affiliate WXYZ that they are “aware of the legal situation” involving Arnold and “will not comment at this time out of respect for the ongoing legal process.”
Arnold, a native of Tallahassee, Florida, played at the University of Alabama and was a first-round pick in the 2024 draft.
The fraternity house at the center of a rape allegation stands on the campus of Cornell University on Oct. 8, 2026, in Ithaca, New York. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
A second defendant named in Jane Doe’s lawsuit alleging forcible drugging and gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity house is asking a judge to remove New York Attorney General Letitia James from the case.
Winston Lee joined fellow Chi Phi fraternity brother Gillio Lopes in seeking James’ removal as special prosecutor.
Lee argued the attorney general and Gov. Kathy Hochul “have together created a blatant appearance of impropriety” and James herself “has already publicly prejudged the guilt” of the subjects of her investigation.
“This public political stunt by the Governor and the AG to make repeated public statements, remove the case from the elected county prosecutor, and prejudge guilt in a criminal investigation for political advantage a month before election day is unethical and in violation of the law,” Lee’s attorney, Teny Geragos, said in a court filing Friday. “The AG is unquestionably biased, as her own public statements show.”
The woman at the center of the case, an undergraduate student identified only as Jane Doe, told Cornell campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the incident occurred, that she had been raped by eight to 10 men at the campus’ Chi Phi fraternity house. Each of the men has denied wrongdoing to investigators, in public statements, or through their lawyers.
Hochul last week appointed James to investigate the case.
In Friday’s court filing, Geragos cited a social media post by James in which the AG said, “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”
“It is the height of unfairness that an uncharged person like Mr. Lee, presumed to be innocent, should be investigated by anyone — much less the AG — who has already publicly endorsed the purported victim and concluded the accused are guilty,” Geragos said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the New York attorney general’s office said, “In this and every investigation, the Office of the Attorney General is committed to conducting a comprehensive review of nothing but the facts, the evidence, and the law.”
James, asked Thursday evening about her comments on social media, said, “Those comments demonstrate empathy, and what we need now more than ever in our body politic is more empathy. The governor of the great state of New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, assigned me to analyze this case and to judge it and to do it without bias. She’s requesting an unbiased investigation and a thorough investigation, and we will do that based on the facts and based on the evidence.”
“Politics stops at the door in my office,” James said. “I can assure New Yorkers that we will engage in a thorough investigation, which will be based on the facts and the law, and guided by the evidence.”
Hochul, following James’ social media post, said, “I have every confidence in our attorney general to do what she has always done: look at the facts, examine the record, and draw the proper conclusions. That’s exactly what’s going to happen in this case.”
A fuel pump at a Wawa gas station in Aston, Pennsylvania, US, on Thursday, May 21, 2026. (Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Gas prices stand near their highest level in four years as millions of Americans ready themselves to hit the road over Memorial Day weekend.
The national average for a gallon of gas on Friday stood at $4.55, which amounts to a roughly 42% rise from this time last year, AAA data showed. Gas prices surged in recent months as the Iran war choked off global oil supply.
Six states boast average gas prices above $5, including Washington and Alaska. California, the state with the nation’s highest gas prices, offers drivers an average gallon of $6.13, according to AAA.
Roughly 39 million people are expected to travel by car over the Memorial Day holiday, exceeding last year’s total, AAA forecasted.
“Travel demand remains strong, and despite higher fuel prices, many people are prioritizing leisure travel,” Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA travel, said in a statement.
Americans will spend about $2 billion more on gasoline over the four-day Memorial Day weekend compared to a year ago, amounting to an added cost of roughly $22 million per hour, Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, said in a post on X on Friday.
Nineteen states are expected to post record-high Memorial Day gas prices, among them Colorado, Ohio, Missouri and New Mexico, De Haan said.
Crude oil is the main ingredient in auto fuel, accounting for more than half of the price paid at the pump, according to the federal U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Middle East conflict triggered a historic oil shortage, driving up crude prices and hiking the cost of auto fuel.
The surge in oil prices came about after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global crude supply.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures price — a benchmark of U.S. oil prices – has soared 50% since the outbreak of war on Feb. 28.
The U.S. is a net exporter of petroleum, meaning the country produces more oil than it consumes. But since oil prices are set on a global market, U.S. prices move in response to swings in worldwide supply and demand.
Oil prices have fallen slightly this week, however, as negotiations have given rise to hope among traders about a possible resumption of normal tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
As a result, De Haan said, gasoline prices may drop over the weekend, falling to an average below $4.50 by Memorial Day.
Roughly one of every 10 low-income households is spending more than 10% of its monthly income on gas, Bank of America said in a research report shared with ABC News last month, citing internal data. For middle- and upper-income households, the share spending that much on gas drops stands at about one of every 20.
Oil prices remain well below the highs reached after some previous economic shocks. In 2022, the price of Brent crude surged above $139 per barrel in March, just weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. oil prices shot up as high as $147 a barrel.
