Police charge woman after car fire set

Police charge woman after car fire set

■ Police investigate her in connection with other fires.

BY JOHN BARTON 

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

A 50-year-old Ann Arbor woman is being held in the Washtenaw County Jail under $500,000 bail on charges of breaking into a car early Friday and setting it on fire.

Norah M. Callan was arrested by Ann Arbor Police about 1:30 a.m. in the 1200 block of Island Lake Drive, after a small fire was discovered in a parked car.

The blaze caused only minor damage, according to preliminary reports. However, the fire was similar to several other suspicious fires that have been under investigation by arson experts from the Ann Arbor police and fire departments, the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Department and the University of Michigan’s Department of Public Safety.

Investigators, who have been looking for a possible connection between the series of deliberately set fires, said Callan would be questioned about the blazes, but they stopped short of identifying her as a prime suspect in those cases.

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie, saying there was a “substantial possibility” Callan could face additional charges, argued for the high bond in a brief hearing Friday afternoon before District Court Magistrate A. Thomas Truesdell.

“We can’t say at this point that she is definitely going to be charged with other fires that have been under investigation,” Mackie said after the hearing, “but we are certainly going to take a very close look at other cases. If the evidence is there, we will be bringing more charges.”

Truesdell granted Mackie’s request, setting bail at $500,000 and scheduling an April 9 preliminary hearing on the two-count warrant charging Callan with arson and breaking and entering.

Both charges are felonies under Michigan law, and each carries a maximum penalty on conviction of five years in prison and a $2,500 fine.