Man facing 10 arson charges in Madison County allegedly used $20 bills to ignite fires

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — A man accused of setting fires at 10 Madison County businesses in September appeared in court for his preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

Nicholas Tremaine Hubbert, 24, faces seven counts of arson from the Huntsville Police Department, two from the Madison Police Department, and one count from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.

Hubbert was present at the hearing via Zoom from the Madison County Jail.

Huntsville Police Investigator Frank Rosler, who responded to the fires, testified in court. They covered each individual fire in the hearing, and there was a common theme: $20 bills.

After interviewing Hubbert and watching surveillance footage, Rosler says the suspect typically walked inside a business, doused a 20 dollar bill with lighter fluid, and used that to light an object on fire. He says at Aldi, a cereal box was lit on fire, at Kroger: a bag of rice, at dollar general: paper towels, at McDonald’s: a trash can, and at both Dick’s and Plato’s Closet: clothing.

Hubbert’s defense attorney Larry Marsili says this is not your run-of-the-mill arson case, and he wants to see the video Investigator Rosler referenced.

“We’re gonna want to see that interview that the investigator talked about and we’re gonna have to still wait for the surveillance footage to be provided, which will happen during the discovery process,” he said. “The state’s really good about turning that stuff over as they get it. These cases just take a little bit longer to work their way through the system. “

The time period of the cases was brought up during questioning, and Rosler said the first fire location was at Walmart around 5:00 p.m. and the last location was at Dick’s around 7:30 p.m. Shortly after, Huntsville Police located Hubbert’s car and a chase began.

Rosler testified while Hubbert talked about the fires during an interview, he wouldn’t speak to the car chase.

While Marsili questioned the investigator, he asked about Hubbert’s mental health at the time.

Rosler testified that he did not believe Hubbert to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but did suspect mental health issues.

“Certainly the mental health part of it will be something that I believe will be a factor,” said Marsili. “Now, to what extent it will be a factor and what the determination from the experts and the professionals may end up being, I don’t know.”

Marsili said at this point, it’s premature for him to say mental health will be main line of defense.

Following testimony, Judge Patricia Demos said she found probable cause and bound the cases over to the grand jury.

News 19 compiled a timeline of the fires and discovered that the fires were set within a three-hour time span. Authorities do believe Hubbert acted alone.

Authorities identified the following locations in connection with Hubbert: