A Utah photographer is facing felony arson and criminal trespass charges after police say he set fire to a house on Valentine’s day for a shoot, resulting in damage to the home and burning his eyebrows and facial hair off.
The photographer, Thomas Shea, was involved in the incident on Valentine’s Day. A fire in Woodland was reported to Summit County authorities, and when they arrived at the scene, they discovered Shea with his coat partially melted and his eyebrows and facial hair singed off. Shea was then taken for treatment in a hospital. He initially told officers he had approached the house as a photographer after seeing smoke emanating from it. However, once he was released from the hospital and authorities discovered evidence of arson, Shea admitted he had come to the home with camera equipment and a five-gallon jug of gasoline and intentionally set the fire to shoot it. In fact, Shea lit three fires, extinguishing the first two himself. However, the third fire grew beyond his control, leading to his burns as he tried to extinguish it.
The fire caused $5,000 in damage to the house in addition to Shea’s injuries.
Lead image by Marc Gallant, used under Creative Commons.