Florida Man Tries to Blame 'Random Black Guy' After Setting Girlfriend's House Ablaze

The 19-year-old has now been charged with multiple counts of attempted first-degree homicide and arson.

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A Florida man set his girlfriend's house ablaze, then tried to blame it on a "random black guy." 19-year-old Jose Bernando Rosas Madrigal doused the Polk City residence in lighter fluid after Googling house-burning methods, WFLAreported last week. Madrigal also allegedly threatened the girlfriend over Snapchat.

Madrigal originally told police he was 25 minutes away from the scene of the crime at his mother's home. Surveillance footage, however, showed Madrigal's truck at the Scott family home. When confronted about the footage and the Google searches discovered in his phone records, Madrigal then claimed to have only helped his brother start the fire.

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Police say Madrigal also crafted a "heart-shaped symbol" outside the girlfriend's bedroom. Though her identity has not been released, the Daily Beast said that both Madrigal and the girlfriend were high school students and had been dating for a year. "He planned this in advance," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said of the incident, which occurred Nov. 24. "He Googled how to burn the house, he mixed the combination and poof, he set it on fire. And poof, we put him in jail."

James Scott, the girlfriend's father, said he and his wife first heard a loud noise outside and thought nothing of it. Eventually, they opened the door "and it just smelled like some kind of gas or toxic fume." Neighbors helped extinguish the flames, which had hit the front yard and a canoe.

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Madrigal has now been charged with three counts of attempted first-degree homicide, one count of first-degree arson, and possession of liquor by a person under 21 thanks to the discovery of a half-full bottle of vodka in his truck.

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