Springfield man allegedly sets car on fire for $50 to buy drugs

Anthony L. Gamble, Sr. plead not guilty to arson and attempted arson charges in the Clark County Municipal Court on Wednesday morning.

Anthony L. Gamble, Sr. plead not guilty to arson and attempted arson charges in the Clark County Municipal Court on Wednesday morning.

A Springfield man has been accused of helping another man set fire to a car early Wednesday morning and poured gasoline on another one.

Anthony L. Gamble Sr., 43, of 526 W. Mulberry St., has been charged with arson and attempted arson. Gamble Sr. pleaded not guilty in Clark County Municipal Court on Wednesday morning. Bond was set at $5,000.

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Officers were called to the 400 block of Harrison Street about 2:50 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30, on a report of a car fire. The victim allegedly took a video from a neighbor’s home of two men, including one believed to be Gamble, walking with bottles in their hand, according to a police report.

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The video allegedly shows the men walking to a neighbor’s house and Gamble pouring gasoline on a vehicle, according to the police report. The other man then taps Gamble on the shoulder to tell him it was the wrong car, the report says.

The men then walked to the victim’s car and poured gas on it. A few minutes later, Gamble allegedly was seen coming back and throwing something on fire onto the vehicle, according to a police report.

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Gamble and the man were later seen by police on West Pleasant Street, but the other man fled into the woods on South York Street. Gamble told officers he was smoking crack with a female friend in an alley when an unknown man asked him if he wanted to make $50 by helping him set a car on fire.

After being arrested, Gamble told police he didn’t know the man. He later allegedly admitted to the crimes and said he was trying to make $50 to buy more drugs, the report says.

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