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Claudia Brown-Mansour
A 36-year-old Beaumont woman accused of setting a man’s house on fire last December was indicted May 25 by a Jefferson County grand jury.
Claudia Brown-Mansour, 36, of Beaumont, was allegedly caught on surveillance footage setting fire to a home on the corner of McFaddin Avenue and North Ninth Street. She was arrested a day later a block away on the corner of Ninth and Calder Avenue.
According to a probable cause affidavit penned by Beaumont Fire Department (BFD) Captain Terence Simon, Beaumont firefighters were dispatched at about 8:33 p.m. Dec 22 in reference to a possible arson fire, which was already out by the time of their arrival.
After conferring with a fellow BFD captain, Simon learned the owner of the residence had video footage of a suspect starting the fire. Relaying what he saw on surveillance footage of the incident, Simon wrote, “There was a female wearing a red jacket with gray pants and a dark-colored knit cap while carrying a gray backpack. She walks up to the residence and then passes the view of the camera. Then, there is a bright light and Mansour comes back into view of the camera and is seen holding something that is on fire. She hastily turns and seems to place something on the ground, and then the flames flare up.”
Simon photographed burn marks on the southeast corner of the home, including on the gas meter located in that quadrant. He then observed a potted plant with burn marks, noting a circular burn pattern in the nearby grass.
“I noticed an odor of what seemed to be gasoline, so I retrieved my meter from my truck,” Simon wrote. “When I used the meter to test the area of the burns, it indicated the presence of a flammable gas.”
The 34-year-old homeowner told Simon he got a notification from his security cameras, which showed someone setting a fire to the structure. When the homeowner learned about the fire, he called to alert the 63-year-old occupant, who quelled the flames with a garden hose.
A day after the alleged arson activity, Beaumont police located Mansour on Calder Avenue near Ninth Street. As of press time, Mansour was not listed on the Jefferson County inmate roster.