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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — A security guard for a business complex in Cottonwood Heights was charged Monday with starting a series of small fires and making a bomb threat at the business she was hired to protect.
Brittany Marie Burson, 22, of West Jordan, is charged in 3rd District Court with four counts of aggravated arson, a first-degree felony, and making a threat of terrorism, a second-degree felony.
On March 2, Unified firefighters were called to Cottonwood Corporate Center, 2825 E. Cottonwood Parkway, on a report of bomb threat. The business complex consists of four six-story buildings. Burson claimed she had received a call from a man on her private security cellphone, and he said there was a bomb in one of the buildings, according to charging documents. The building was evacuated as fire crews investigated. No explosive devices were found.
On March 11, a fire was started in the women's bathroom in one of the buildings. Burson told a fire investigator who responded to the scene that a garbage can was lit on fire, the charges state. While still on scene, the property managers told police they found the remains of a second fire that had been set in a vacant part of another building.
On March 17, two more fires at the complex were reported in men's bathrooms on different floors. The next day, a fire was reported in a women's bathroom that was started in a trash can and spread to the wall.
As investigators continued to look into all the events, they discovered that the bomb threat called to the private security phone was made from Burson's personal cellphone, the charges allege.
"Further, a search of Burson's Google history revealed that she searched to see if restricted phone numbers could be discovered and about combustible materials for starting fires," according to the charges.
When questioned by investigators, Burson admitted to calling in the bomb threat but denied starting the fires, though she "did admit to being in the area" when each fire started, the charges say.
She was arrested after being interviewed. Prosecutors have requested she be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail pending trial.
