Detectives, using surveillance video, were able to locate the suspect’s vehicle the next day in San Pedro, where he was arrested.
A 45-year-old San Pedro man was arrested on suspicion of setting dumpster fires in Costa Mesa, authorities said Saturday.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video and used automated license plate-reading cameras to identify the suspect’s vehicle and book Shaun Michael Cloonan on suspicion of five counts of arson and two drug-related misdemeanors, according to Roxi Fyad of the Costa Mesa Police Department.
Officers were dispatched around 1:45 a.m. Thursday to multiple calls in the 3200 block of Iowa Street, the 3100 block of Country Club Drive and the 3200 block of Minnesota Avenue about a suspect driving in the neighborhood and sequentially setting trash containers on fire. Fyad said.
“After the fires were extinguished, (Costa Mesa Fire and Rescue) determined the fires were arson,” he said.
Officers were dispatched around 6:50 a.m. to investigate another dumpster fire that had occurred about 40 minutes earlier in the 3100 block of College Avenue and was extinguished by area residents.
“There were social media posts shared by community members about these incidents,” he said.
Detectives, using surveillance video, were able to locate the suspect’s vehicle the following day in San Pedro, where he was arrested.
The investigation is ongoing and Costa Mesa police urged anyone with relevant information to call them at 714-754-5120 or email [email protected].