NORFOLK, Va. — Authorities say they have arrested a man following a series of suspicious fires in the West Ghent section of Norfolk.
The Norfolk Fire Marshal's Office says 42-year-old Ryan Lee Elza of Norfolk is charged with one count of arson to an occupied dwelling. He was taken into custody on Monday afternoon.
Court documents say he is a Norfolk Public Schools employee, and the school system confirmed he was an English teacher at Lake Taylor Middle School.
Elza's charge stems from a fire on June 11, where several cars caught on fire and the flames spread to someone's garage.
There was another fire on June 2 along Redgate Avenue, where a car was set on fire. No one was hurt in either fire.
13News Now interviewed Elza from Norfolk City Jail. We asked him if he set the fire on June 11.
“No, no I did not,” Elza said.
He lives across from that house and believes the arrest is a misunderstanding. Elza said investigators showed him security video where he walked around his apartment to grill in the back, with lighter fluid in his hand.
“Since I don’t really have a good excuse for wanting to cook hot dogs at 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock at night and walking around my building with lighter fluid in my hand,” Elza said.
Elza also said he has had problems in the past with his neighbor whose house burned down.
“I feel like the investigators want somebody for the crime, for the crimes, I guess,” Elza said.
There was another fire on June 2 along Redgate Avenue, where a car was set on fire. Elza said it was his wife’s car.
“The thing that they are missing is my wife’s car was set on fire,” Elza said. “We are married so it’s kind of my car too, so I was a victim as well.”
The owner of a rental property right next door to Elza’s apartment said his building went up in flames in April and May of last year. Elza said he has nothing to do with those either.
“None of the fires had anything to do with me, besides me and like 50 other people lived right there,” Elza said.
He hopes his name gets cleared and believes there is still an arsonist on the loose in West Ghent.
“I’m a teacher and I don’t have a lot of money and so I get a public defender,” Elza said. “I am not saying I don’t have faith in the system, but I am not really in a good spot right now, because I kind of feel like I might lose. My life is over, my life is ruined. So yeah, it’s tough.”
Neighbors previously told 13News Now that fires had been set in the area going back over a year.
Jamie Jones said his property was hit by three fires in 2020. He said in February 2020, a tenant’s car caught fire. Two months later in April, it was his building.
“April 14 there was the first building fire,” Jones said. “Trash cans were pushed up against the gas meters and lit on fire, causing the gas meters to explode with four people in the building.”
While his property was shut down, it caught fire again in May. He said his neighbor’s camera caught someone in action.
“Wearing a complete hoodie, face mask, rubber gloves, and what looks like a clear two-liter bottle of some type of accelerant in his arms,” Jones said. “The camera picked that up clearly, but you can’t tell who that person was.”
The Norfolk Fire Marshal Chief N.E. Nelson said in a news release that "further charges could be brought pending the outcome of this ongoing investigation."
He was arraigned Tuesday morning around 9:30 a.m. His next court date was set for September 30.
Elza is currently being held at the Norfolk City Jail without bond.