David Michael Crawford of Ellicott City has been sentenced in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County in connection with a series of arsons in Clarksburg, following his guilty plea earlier this week.
Crawford, 74, appeared before Judge James Bonifant, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree arson and one count of second-degree arson. The charges stem from three house fires in Clarksburg in 2016, 2017, and 2020 at homes owned by his family members. Investigators with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service determined the fires were intentionally set. Judge Bonifant sentenced Crawford to 55 years in prison, to run concurrently with a sentence he is already serving for related convictions in Howard County. The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorneys Robert Hill and Hannah Gleason.
The Montgomery County sentencing follows Crawford’s earlier conviction in Howard County, where a jury found him guilty of eight counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree arson, and one count of first-degree malicious burning. Prosecutors said Crawford was responsible for 12 arsons across multiple Maryland counties, including Montgomery, Howard, Frederick, Charles, Anne Arundel, and Prince George’s, between 2011 and 2020. Investigators linked the cases through surveillance footage and evidence showing a consistent pattern of using gasoline to start fires, as well as a list of intended targets found during a search of his home in 2021.
Crawford previously served as police chief in Laurel and District Heights and as a major with the Prince George’s County Police Department before resigning from law enforcement in 2010. Authorities said the victims included former public officials, law enforcement officers, medical professionals, relatives, and neighbors, and were not connected to Crawford through his former career.
