A Maryland jury returned a guilty verdict Thursday against a former police chief accused of setting fire to buildings belonging to his adversaries. David Crawford, 71, was arrested in March 2021 and charged with over 50 felonies following a sprawling investigation that linked a dozen arsons spanning nearly a decade and crisscrossing several Maryland counties. He now faces life in prison at sentencing. A career policeman, Crawford served as police chief of Laurel, a city roughly halfway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., from 2006 to 2010. Prosecutors said the arson victims included a former Laurel city official, three former law enforcement officials and two chiropractors who had treated Crawford.
