24-year-old Mecklenburg Resident Charged With 8 Counts of Arson

A Beech Creek Road resident is facing eight counts of arson after a grand jury indicted him.

Arson investigators, including a bloodhound, from the Virginia Department of Forestry charged the individual after obtaining evidence from each crime scene.

Paul Wayne Morris, 24, faces eight felony counts of arson associated with a string of fires dating back to August 2005. The eight fires, set in the Nelson community, ranged in size from 1/10 of an acre to 24 acres.

Surveillance assistance in the investigation was provided by the Mecklenburg County Sherriff’s Department. Volunteer firefighters from Clarksville, Boydton, Virgilina and Midway assisted in the fire suppression efforts and helped secure the crime scenes so that the fires could be properly investigated.

A trial is scheduled in August.

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The Virginia Department of Forestry protects and develops healthy, sustainable forest resources for Virginians. Headquartered in Charlottesville, there are Forestry staff members assigned to every county to provide service to citizens of the Commonwealth. VDOF is an equal opportunity provider.

With nearly 16 million acres of forest land and more than 184,000 Virginians employed in forestry, forest products and related industries, Virginia forests provide more than $29 Billion annually in benefits to the Commonwealth.