Authorities arrested Anthony J. Rhodes, 36, on Thursday after accusing him of sparking a fire with camping fuel and fireworks inside a Walmart in Elkton, Maryland, then stealing nearly $10,000 in merchandise before fleeing on a motorcycle. He is charged with first-degree arson and manufacturing an explosive device.
Security video showed a masked man entering the store on the night of April 29 with a backpack and loading a grocery cart with camping fuel and several boxes of fireworks. Investigators said he parked the cart next to the children's clothing section and set it ablaze, sending customers and staff scrambling for the exits as fireworks began exploding inside the store. Firefighters from the Singerly Fire Company put out the flames.
The blaze caused only about $5,000 in direct fire damage, but Walmart said smoke, soot and cleanup left it with about $10 million in lost inventory. That gap is what turned a fast-moving theft into a much larger loss for the retailer, and it is why the case drew in the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office, the ATF and Walmart Global Investigations.
Authorities said Rhodes was wearing a Jefferson University Baseball T-shirt during the heist, a detail that helped investigators identify him using security cameras. The Fire Marshal's Office said he had no connection to Jefferson University or its sports teams. Jason Mowbray said the case moved quickly because teams worked side-by-side with ATF partners and Walmart Global Investigations, and he called it an all-hands effort that brought the investigation to a close.
Rhodes was taken into custody without incident by local police and was being held in a Camden County jail awaiting extradition to Maryland. The arrest closes the immediate search for the suspect, but the case now moves to court, where the fire, the theft and the device charges will be tested against the video, the clothing detail and the store damage that followed.
