RIVERSIDE, California
A Michigan man was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in federal prison for maliciously setting fire to six semi-trailers, federal officials stated.
The trailers belonged to a major commercial trucking company operating in the Inland Empire and High Desert areas. The arson incidents spanned 10 months.
U.S. District Judge Sunshine S. Sykes sentenced Viorel Pricop, 66, of Allen Park, Michigan. The judge ordered him to pay $648,384 in restitution.
After a 16-day trial, a jury on March 12 found Pricop guilty of six counts of arson of vehicle or property in interstate commerce. He has been in federal custody since October 2022.
“We’re proud of the work our investigators were able to do with our partners to catch this serial arsonist and piece together a strong case that helped bring him to justice,” said New Mexico State Fire Marshal Randy Varela. “We’ll continue to work with partners to keep our communities and our neighbors safe.”
From December 2021 to September 2022, Pricop maliciously set fire to six semi-trailers belonging to Swift Transportation, a Phoenix-based commercial trucking company.
Four of the arsons occurred in San Bernardino County (Newberry Springs, Ludlow, Barstow, and Hesperia) and two occurred in Riverside County (Coachella).
In each incident, the Swift-owned trailer was parked at or near a truck stop when a fire occurred on the trailer portion of the vehicle, mainly on or near the trailer tires.
According to an affidavit previously filed in this case, Pricop set on fire at least 18 additional Swift Transportation semi-trailers in other states from June 2020 to March 2022.
These incidents occurred at locations spanning from Barstow, California, to McCalla, Alabama, with most incidents occurring along Interstate 10 and Interstate 40, the affidavit states.
Federal criminal charges associated with some of these fires were filed against Pricop in the District of New Mexico and the District of Arizona.
Swift Transportation hired a fire investigation consultant to assist with fire scene examinations.
A pattern began to develop when multiple reports noted substantially similar methods of lighting the trailers on fire, including where on the vehicles the fires began and the fact that the fires occurred during the middle of the night.
A review of cell tower data near some of the fires showed that a specific device—later found to be a navigation device installed in a commercial tractor-style truck—connected to cell towers near many of the fires at or around the times of the fires.
According to law enforcement, Pricop installed this device on a vehicle.
After obtaining court approval, law enforcement also identified the cellphone that Pricop had subscribed to and obtained historical cellular data and real-time location data for it.
Analysis of this data showed that Pricop’s cellphone was present in the general area of all California fires and in 18 additional fires across the country.
In September 2022, search warrants were executed on Pricop’s tractor-trailer, personal vehicle, and residence, yielding additional evidence corroborating his involvement in this series of arsons.
This evidence included a gas torch, torch-style lighters, and record-keeping documents containing location information, such as cargo pickup and delivery dates, which coincided with the time and location of several fires in the 24-fire series nationwide.
Swift Transportation and other trucking companies were victims of thefts between 2010 and 2014. Swift initiated its investigation into those thefts and utilized bait trailers to catch thieves.
In 2015, someone broke into one of the bait trailers and took boxes of electronic goods containing tracking devices.
Swift investigators tracked those boxes to a storage facility in Michigan, and local law enforcement in Michigan arrested Pricop for possessing the boxes of electronic goods from the bait trailer.
In 2018, Pricop was convicted in Michigan for a tax offense and for transportation of stolen goods, charges stemming from Swift’s investigation.
Pricop was sentenced to time served in that case, amounting to approximately 26 months’ imprisonment. His term of supervised release ended in June 2019, approximately one year before the arson in this case began.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the New Mexico State Fire Marshal’s Office investigated this matter.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cory L. Burleson, Sean D. Peterson, and Mitchell M. Suliman of the Riverside Branch Office prosecuted this case.