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Suspects in Accomack County Arsons Appear in Court

police mug shot

Charles Smith III and Tonya Bundick appeared in a Virginia Court yesterday…facing arson charges as a result of a series of some 70 fires that hit Accomack County late last year and earlier this year.

Judge Gordon Vincent certified the charges against the two Hopeton residents who face, for the moment, one count each of arson and conspiracy to commit arson in connection with the fire at an abandoned building in Melfa last April.

Court documents show that Smith has admitted to setting 52 fires and said that Bundick set 15 of the arsons that began in November and ended in April.

The Judge admitted as evidence a 10 page transcript containing part of Smith’s four hour police interrogation. 

The Salisbury Daily Times reports Smith told police that he warned Bundick that the Melfa house could be a set up.

The case now goes to a grand jury which will decide whether to indict the couple on the charges.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.