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Case ID: 17621
Classification: Burning - Fire or Fireworks
Animal: dog (non pit-bull)
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Former firefighter burns down house with dog in it
Clayton, NC (US)

Incident Date: Thursday, Mar 24, 2011
County: Johnston

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Scott Lamont Sidney

A former Cary firefighter is in the Johnston County Jail after authorities charged him with deliberately burning down the Clayton-area house Thursday morning where he lived with his wife and two children.

Scott Lamont Sidney, 39, is charged with fraudulently burning a dwelling, burning an unoccupied building and animal cruelty following a fire that gutted the ranch home at 85 Majestic Lane, off of Ranch Road, that he co-owned with his wife, Jennifer Sidney, according to Johnston County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Tammy Amaon.

Firefighters responding to a 911 call at approximately 9:35 a.m. Thursday morning found the house, along with a storage shed and a recreational camper parked alongside the garage, completely engulfed in flames.

"I have no idea what happened," Jennifer Sidney said Friday while surveying the wreckage of her home. "I went to work yesterday morning (driving buses for Wake County Schools), and I got a phone call my house was on fire."

Jennifer Sidney said her husband, who retired from the Cary Fire Department in 2009, suffers from multiple sclerosis and had been having problems in recent weeks with attacks.

"He said he was tired of his head hurting so much," she said. "He asked me to stay home (Thursday) but I told him I had to go to work. He was sleeping when I left."

Published reports mentioned that authorities suspected domestic problems might have led Sidney to allegedly burn his home. A neighbor friend of Scott Sidney, Joe Strader, said the couple had been having arguments and that Scott Sidney had moved temporarily to Fuquay-Varina before he returned to the Majestic Lane residence last week.

But Jennifer Sidney said that her husband, who she married 10 years ago, was not violent. "We had little disagreements; that was it," she said. "He was a sweet person; he got along with everybody. He's been dealing with the MS, I know that's been hard for him -- but I never thought in a million years he'd so anything like this."

Though Jennifer Sidney and her two sons were not home at the time the fire broke out, her Great Dane was in a pen in the kitchen and was lost in the blaze, leading to the additional charge of animal cruelty.

Scott Sidney was located by Raleigh police around 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Home Depot store on Capital Boulevard. He was transported to the Johnston County Jail and placed under a $170,000 bond.

Jennifer Sidney said she and her children are staying at a local hotel with assistance from the American Red Cross until she can make arrangements to move in with her mother.

"There's nothing much left," she said, looking at her burned home Friday.

References

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