JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- A Licking man was sentenced in federal court today for setting a series of arson fires at truck stops across six states.
Steven Oakley Price, 42 was sentenced to eight years in federal prison without parole.
He pleaded guilty to eight counts of arson on Dec. 1, 2011.
Price, an over-the-road truck driver, admitted he set arson fires that burned tractor-trailer rigs in Missouri, Georgia, Indiana, West Virginia, Iowa and Illinois between August 2009 and June 2010.
Price committed arson by putting fuel-soaked clothing, rags or fuel filters in or around the wheel wells of tractor-trailer trucks, most of which were parked and occupied at the time the fires were started.
Several fires occurred at a truck stop in Kingdom City. Price was seen at the scene of these fires and identified as a suspect.
Price’s employer, Tennant Truck Lines of Orion, Illinois, uses GPS technology to track its drivers. With Tennant’s assistance, law enforcement investigators began to track Price’s travel.
A fire was set under a commercial tractor-trailer rig in Richmond Hill, Ga., on Aug. 26, 2009. Price’s tractor-trailer rig was parked next to the burned truck.
During April 2010, five arson fires were set under commercial tractor-trailer rigs in Mississippi, West Virginia, Iowa and in Kingdom City; in each case, GPS data placed Price at or near the scene of the fire.
During May 2010, nine arson fires were set under commercial tractor-trailer rigs in Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana; again, GPS data put Price at or near the scene of each fire. Four of the May 2010 arsons were in Kingdom City and one was in Oak Grove.
On June 23, 2010, a truck parked at a truck stop in Valley Grove, W.Va., was damaged by a fire that was set the same way as the other arson fires. Investigators had been conducting surveillance of Price using GPS data, and he was arrested in his truck parked a short distance away.
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