Man arrested in fires at Salem BottleDrop, Lucky Fortune police say
Salem police arrested a man they say started a dumpster fire at the BottleDrop building in the east Lancaster area Saturday night.
Around 10 p.m. that night, Salem police officers and fire crews responded to a report of a fire in a dumpster at the bottle redemption center in the 1900 block of Northeast Lancaster Drive, the Salem Police Department said in a news release Sunday afternoon.
Police got a description of the suspect from surveillance video at the facility.
People reported two other “suspicious fires” in that same area, followed by a fourth fire shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday at the Lucky Fortune Restaurant, 1401 Lancaster Dr N.E., according to the statement.
A Salem officer on patrol eventually saw a man who matched the suspect in the dumpster fire at the BottleDrop building and detained him.
“The suspect, Leonardo Hernandez-Cruz, attempted to flee and was subsequently arrested,” the department said in the news release.
He later admitted to arson investigators that he had been involved in the fire at the BottleDrop location, Salem police said.
The department said no information would be released about the other fires reported as their investigation is still pending.
Hernandez-Cruz, 28, was booked into Marion County Jail on charges of second-degree arson, first-degree criminal mischief and second-degree disorderly conduct, police said.
He was being held at the jail without bail as of Monday morning, the jail’s roster showed. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 2:30 p.m. in Marion County Circuit Court.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered the justice system and public safety for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
