Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 18, 1994                   TAG: 9404180106
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SUSPECTED ARSONIST RETURNS TO SCENE OF CRIME

Numerous city fire trucks were on the move Sunday night as several trash bins were set on fire within minutes of one another.

The initial fire, at Spinnaker's Restaurant at Valley View Mall, was set around 10:15 p.m. in a bathroom trash can, police said. The fire was contained to the bathroom.

Two fires were set in dumpsters on the Valley View premises - one behind Holdren's Department Store and the other behind Sears - just minutes after the Spinnaker's blaze.

Another dumpster fire was set at the 7-Eleven store in the 3600 block of Williamson Road between 10:30 and 11 p.m.

Capt. Richard Troutt of the Roanoke Fire Department said the fires had not been connected definitely to the same suspect.

"But things are awful suspicious," he said.

While Troutt was talking to a reporter shortly after 11 p.m., police were called to Spinnaker's, just a few hundred feet away, when a person inside the restaurant identified the suspect.

After questioning the man outside the restaurant for 10 to 15 minutes, police officers handcuffed the suspect and put him in a patrol car.

Officers identified the man as Clifton L. Collins, 23, of 2423 Westover Ave. N.W. A magistrate said the charge would be attempted arson.

Troutt said the dumpster fires behind Holdren's and Sears did minimal damage. The Holdren's fire was confined to the dumpster, and the blaze behind Sears destroyed a large stack of cardboard boxes waiting to be recycled. A Sears delivery truck also sustained fire damage, Troutt said.