An arrest has reportedly been made after a Phoenix United States Postal Service mailbox was believed to have been set on fire early Thursday, damaging a number of mailed-in ballots.
Emergency crews were called to the USPS Osborn Station, near Seventh Avenue and Indian School Road, around 1:30 a.m. Thursday where a drive-up mail collection box was on fire.
Phoenix Fire Department said an unknown person lit a fire inside the blue drive-up collection box and fled the area.
Crews were able to quickly extinguish the blaze, but investigators were later seen going through pieces of mail that had been burned in the fire.
“Approximately 20 electoral ballots were damaged, along with additional miscellaneous mail,” Phoenix Fire Department officials said. The Postal Inspector has since taken possession of the damaged ballots and mail.
Phoenix police say surveillance video helped them quickly track down and arrest the suspect, a 35-year-old male, for an unrelated warrant. While in police custody, he allegedly admitted to starting the fire but claimed he “wanted to be arrested” and that his actions were not politically motivated and unrelated to the election.