ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (999 KTDY) - Officials with the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office have made an arrest in an arson case that happened in the early morning hours of Mother's Day Sunday, May 14 in St. Martinville.

Ashley Rodrigue, Public Affairs Director with the State Fire Marshal's Office, says a woman who lives in the house where the fire occurred woke up smelling smoke. She and another occupant of the house had been sleeping.  She ended up going outside to find a fire and she was able to use a garden hose to put it out.

When firefighters got to the scene, it was determined that this was an arson case based on evidence at the scene. They talked to people in the neighborhood, they reviewed video surveillance from that area, and they eventually determined that a transient is the person who set the fire.

Investigators were able to locate and arrest 37-year-old Leroy Harrison. For the May 14 incident, he was charted with one count of Aggravated Arson.

If you're wondering what Aggravated Arson is in the eyes of Louisiana law here is how it is described via the Louisiana Legislature's website:

Whoever commits the crime of aggravated arson shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than six nor more than twenty years, and shall be fined not more than twenty-five thousand dollars. Two years of such imprisonment at hard labor shall be without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

Rodrigue says they found out Harrison also had other outstanding warrants from another agency not related to this arson case.

The house involved in this situation is located in the 100 block of Hyacinth Street in St. Martinville.

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