Crime & Safety

Pikesville Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Arson

Prosecutors said Al Darnell Moore, 35, threw a Molotov cocktail at an ex-girlfriend's home.

Al Darnell Moore, of Pikesville, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to attempted destruction of property by fire, in connection with the attempted arson of his former girlfriend’s residence, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.

Upset that a 17-year-old girlfriend wanted to end a relationship with him, Moore, 35, poured charcoal lighter fluid into a bottle of gin, put a cloth wick inside, lit the Molotov cocktail and threw it toward the back of the girl’s rental home on Jan. 5, federal prosecutors said in the release.

The bottle hit a fence around the back patio, dislodged the fencing and fell to the ground, burning an area of grass. A resident extinguished it.

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"After lighting the wick of the Molotov cocktail, if the container had broken, it would have caused the vapors of the liquid to ignite and the potential for destruction to life and property was very high," according to the release.

Four days before the attempted arson, Moore had threatened the girl, telling her she would not have a home to come back to because he was distraught that she was ending their relationship.

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Moore faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison, the release states. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 3.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives-Baltimore Field Division, Howard County police and the Howard County State’s Attorney's office assisted in the investigation.


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