“We arrested Andrew Keith Horton, age 49. He’s been charged, held accountable at this point, for 7 different fires. We have charged him with ten offenses related to those fires so far. He was brought in for questioning and subsequently did confess to the ones that he has been charged with,” said Cunningham.

Horton is charged with six counts of Burning of Personal Property, two counts of Burning Other Structures, one count of Setting Fire to Grass and Woodlands, as well as one count of Attempted First Degree Arson.

Authorities said some of the arson fires occurred at several locations downtown, including the US Bankruptcy Court building on North Liberty Street, the Wingate Inn on South Main Street and at a vacant building on East Seventh Street owned by NMR Textiles. The nearby Arts Based School was evacuated because of the brush fire.

The Winston-Salem Police Department is working closely with the city’s Fire Department on the arson cases. Cunningham said it’s not clear at this time whether the investigation will bring forth additional charges.

“There is a total of 10 fires that had occurred in a recent time frame in downtown. Some of these are still being investigated and we are actually having to go back and see can we rule them legally these as arsons. Some of them may have been accidental but we don’t know until we go back and recomplete a reexamination of those investigations,” said Cunningham.

Horton's bond is $500,000 and his court date has been set for September 21.

Anyone with information regarding these fires is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department or the Winston-Salem Fire Department.