A Scotland County teenagers is in custody on arson charges, according to the Scotland County Sheriff's Office.

A sheriff's report says 18-year old Joseph A. Locklear, of Gibson Manor Apartments, was arrested Thursday and charged with arson. He is in Scotland County jail under a $75,000 secured bond.

He may be linked to other fires, according to officials.

Investigator Rodney Tucker says the Gibson teen is accused of setting a fire on a porch at another apartment in his complex on June 20.

"It was obvious that someone had took some pine straw and put it on a lady's front porch," Tucker said.

The investigator said the fire was obviously a lit fire as no electricity was running to the porch.

"He was the one who supposedly found the fire at the apartment complex," Tucker said.

He declined to release why investigator's believe Locklear is the arsonist.

"He is a suspect in other fires," Tucker said.

The investigator would not say which fires Locklear is believed to have caused, but did say that two other suspicious fires occurred that week, one the same morning.

A barn behind the Gibson fire station also caught fire on June 20.

Officials believe the fire was set.

"There was no power to the structure," Tucker said.

He said it appeared that "someone had entered the building and set fire to the building."

"Luckily a guy that was walking by saw the smoke coming out of the barn," Tucker said.

The investigator said little damage occurred to either structure. The pine straw on the porch largely burned itself out and the barn was reported quickly enough to prevent major structural damage.

"This was a joint effort between the Scotland County Sheriff's Office and the Gibson Fire Department," Tucker said. "They helped out significantly on this."