Easton man arrested for arson at medical facility

EASTON, Md. – An Easton man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly trying to start a fire near a medical building.

Firefighters responded to the University of Maryland Shore Medical System for a report of miscellaneous items on fire adjacent to the building. The flames were quickly distinguished.

Surveillance footage showed a man, later identified as 42-year-old Keith Knotts Jr., who had previously been a patient at the hospital, putting a flammable substance on items next to the building and lighting them on fire before fleeing the area.

A separate call for service was made to a Will Street residence a short time later, where officers recognized Knotts from the surveillance video at the hospital. He was placed under arrest and charged with first and second degree malicious burning, arson, reckless endangerment, malicious destruction of property, trespassing, and CDS possession not marijuana.