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A gavel and legal textbook in a courtroom.
A man with ties to the Houston area has been arrested and indicted by a federal grand jury on several criminal charges related to a 2023 fire in Huntsville that killed two people, according to court documents.
Mario Raynard Roberson, 52, was arrested Thursday in Humble by Bryan FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety officers after a grand jury indicted him earlier this month on 12 felony counts. Robertson was indicted on nine counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit arson and one count of conspiracy to violate the Travel Act.
The charges stem from a June 2023 fire at a rental property in Huntsville owned by Robertson that resulted in the death of two people who allegedly assisted in setting the fire. Court documents do not name the two people who died, referring to them only by their initials.
According to the indictment, Roberson allegedly wanted to set fire to the property to obtain insurance claim payments from State Farm totaling approximately $345,000. The indictment also accuses Roberson of telling a news station that the residence “had been vandalized with racist graffiti” before the fire, while “knowing that this property damage had been deliberately commissioned or caused
by him.”
In November 2023, Roberson was charged with arson in San Jacinto County. He is still awaiting trial for that charge.
If convicted on the federal charges, Roberson could face up to life in prison.
His Houston-based defense attorney declined to comment Friday.