The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A U.S. Capitol Police officer was charged by a grand jury Wednesday with setting a fire Nov. 2 in a women’s bathroom in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The federal indictment of Officer Karen Emory, 36, of Waldorf, Md., did not mention at least six other fires in Senate office buildings since late September.
Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, the Capitol Police spokeswoman, said the other six fires remain under investigation. Investigators are exploring whether the fires are linked but have reached no conclusions, Schneider said.
Emory was charged with one misdemeanor count of willfully injuring property of the United States - toilet roll dispensers and toilet tissue, with damage not exceeding $1,000. If convicted, she faces up to one year in jail.
Emory has been an officer since January 2003, Schneider said.
The Nov. 2 fire, in a second-floor restroom, was quickly extinguished and there were no evacuations or injuries.
All of the fires were in ladies’ restrooms, except for one in a stairwell in the Hart Senate Office Building.