NBC News: “An 18-year-old Texas State Guard member accused of lighting a fire at an Austin synagogue on Halloween faces a federal arson charge, according to a newly unsealed criminal complaint affidavit. The man, Franklin Barrett Sechriest, was arrested Wednesday and accused of lighting a fire near the doors of Congregation Beth Israel at 9 p.m. on Oct. 31, causing $25,000 in damage to the synagogue, according to the affidavit.
“After an investigation and witness interviews, officials ‘determined that the fire was intentionally set and thus an act of arson,’ the complaint says. The affidavit says Sechriest was recorded on the synagogue’s surveillance video getting out of his car, carrying a container similar to a fuel jug and a roll of toilet paper, then walking toward the temple’s administration office entrance on Oct. 31.
“Soon after the glow of fire was visible on video, Sechriest was seen jogging away and getting back into his vehicle, the affidavit claims. The FBI executed federal search warrants Wednesday at Sechriest’s home in San Marcos and found clothes consistent with what the person in the surveillance video was wearing, authorities said.”