HIALEAH GARDENS, Fla. – A 37-year-old woman is facing two felony charges after trying to burn down the historic childhood home of a Florida political icon, according to Miami-Dade police.
According to an arrest report, authorities responded to a “large and actively burning” fire inside the Graham House just before 8 a.m. Friday and saw Angela Taylor running from the scene. When authorities took her into custody, they found a red lighter in her pocket, police said.
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The historic coral rock structure, located off Okeechobee Road at 10721 NW 138th St., was once the home of Bob Graham, 87, who served as Florida’s governor, and then as a U.S. senator, from 1979 to 2005.
According to Abandoned Florida, the home was built in 1924 by Graham’s father, Ernest R. “Cap” Graham, in what was then a town called Pennsuco. It’s now part of Hialeah Gardens and was added to Miami-Dade County’s list of designated historic sites in 1982.
According to police, fire investigators determined the blaze was “consistent with someone pouring (accelerant) onto the floor or onto an object placed on the floor.”
Police said Taylor’s “hands, face, and clothing were covered in soot and ash.”
“While attempting to speak with the defendant (Taylor), she repeated that she had the right to be in the building because she believed she owned the land it was on,” the report states. “The defendant also stated that she was inside using the fire, but someone else started it. There was no one else seen in or around the large open property at the time the officers arrived, and the defendant was the only person in the building.”
Police noted in their report that the property was fenced and marked with “no trespassing” signs.
According to online records, the property is owned by the Graham Companies, founded by Ernest R. Graham in 1932 and best known for creating and developing Miami Lakes.
Taylor, who is homeless with a last known address in Fort Walton Beach, was arrested on charges of burglary and first-degree arson and was being held without bond in Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Monday afternoon.