Two firefighters from Atlanta are facing serious felony charges after being implicated in a scheme allegedly aimed at defrauding an insurance company by burning one of their vehicles for a financial payout.
The accusations come as a result of an extensive investigation that uncovered discrepancies between the firefighters’ accounts and various forms of evidence, including cell phone records, text messages, and traffic camera footage.
The vehicle in question, a 2014 Hyundai Elantra owned by firefighter Alvin Cox, was discovered burned at the intersection of Thomasville Boulevard and Fulton Bridge in Atlanta on April 16, 2023.
This unsettling case took nearly two years to develop, with arrest warrants detailing how investigators dismantled the initial claims made by Cox.
Initially, Cox stated that he had parked his vehicle near an Edgewood Avenue bar around April 12, 2023, and left it there for several days, only to find it missing when he returned on April 19 after a vacation.
However, investigators raised questions about his account when traffic cameras and license plate readers failed to identify the Hyundai near the bar during the time in question.
Instead, the vehicle was captured on camera traveling in the opposite direction on Boulevard at Glenwood on April 12, far from where Cox claimed he had parked it.
In addition to the camera footage, phone records showed Cox’s cell phone was pinging near his home during the time he alleged to have been at the bar.
Further complicating matters for Cox was evidence indicating that his wife was not in the vicinity of the bar on the day he reported his vehicle stolen.
The probe led authorities to fellow firefighter Adrian Strickland, who accessed the department’s incident reporting system 14 times during the days surrounding the car fire.
Strickland, who was celebrating his birthday on the day the car was found, claimed he reviewed the incident file because his brother called him about a fire at the scene.
However, investigators discovered that records showed Cox had called Strickland mere minutes after reporting the vehicle stolen to the police, contradicting Strickland’s claims.
The phone records revealed ongoing communication between the two firefighters on several days surrounding the incident, which raised further suspicions.
In addition, while Strickland alleged that his brother informed him about the fire, evidence indicated that the brother was not in the vicinity at that time, undermining Strickland’s account.
Things took an even more troubling turn when investigators noticed that a vehicle owned by a woman who lives with Strickland was spotted near the location of the car fire that same night.
Cell phone records placed Strickland near the site of the burned car close to 10 p.m. on April 16, the same evening the vehicle fire was reported.
The woman’s car was tracked to just 0.2 miles from the fire location, merely six minutes prior to a 911 call being made at 10:12 p.m.
As the investigation progressed, Cox eventually retracted an insurance claim he had filed for the stolen Hyundai after the insurance company requested documentation, such as cell phone and bank records, to validate his claim.
These developments led investigators to conclude that there was sufficient evidence indicating that Cox had enlisted Strickland to set fire to the vehicle intentionally with the goal of defrauding the insurance company.
Consequently, authorities have charged both men with Arson in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Arson based on the probable cause established through the investigation.
Records indicate that both Alvin Cox and Adrian Strickland were granted a bond set at $3,500 during their appearance in court last week.
This case serves as a sobering reminder of the potential consequences when individuals in positions of trust exploit that trust for personal gain.
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