Man charged with 9 felony counts of arson
A Thermal resident has been arrested in connection to a string of arson fires that were set on the Torrez-Martinez Indian Reservation.
According to a release from Cal Fire and the Riverside County Fire Department, Joseph Auclair was taken into custody on July 15. He was booked into the Riverside County Jail in Indio on nine felony counts of arson.
Officials said one of the arson charges is for causing an inhabited structure or inhabited property to burn, and the other eight felony charges are for arson of a structure or forest land.
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office is handling the case.
