Black man blamed racism for arson at his home that killed 2 people — until an accomplice allegedly told police it was a scam

A Texas man who went to the media to denounce racist vandalism at his home was arrested by police for allegedly burning down the home and killing two people, including one of his relatives.

An unsealed federal indictment detailed the charges against Mario Raynard Roberson, who had blamed racial hatred for vandalism at his Huntsville home in 2023. Later, that home burned to the ground, leading many to blame racism and call for a federal investigation.

'People are being terrible because of the hatred in their heart.'

That federal investigation has led to numerous charges against Roberson, including one that carries a sentence of life in prison.

Roberson went to the media when racist vandalism was spray-painted onto his home after a heated neighborhood association meeting where members voted to ban the use of homes as short-term rentals in May 2023. He claimed that someone at the meeting had threatened him.

"People are being terrible because of the hatred in their heart," said Roberson at the time.

The graffiti read, "We don't like your kind," and ended with a racial epithet. Roberson, who was described as black in a KTRK-TV report, said he would not leave the neighborhood and would stand up to the alleged racism instead.

At the time Roberson also claimed that someone fired a gunshot at him through a window in his house, narrowly missing him.

'Racism, power-hungriness, money has gotten us to this place.'

Only one month later in June, the home burned to the ground.

Two people were killed in the home, and a witness said that the witness had seen a man running out of the home while fully engulfed in flames before stripping his clothes and driving away.

Roberson again blamed racism.

"Racism, power-hungriness, money has gotten us to this place," Roberson said to KTRK at the time.

That led to some organizations demanding that the Department of Justice investigate the incidents. In a June 2023 KRIV-TV report, a spokesperson from CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says that the group demanded that the FBI open an investigation into the matter as a possible hate crime.

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Roberson was arrested in Nov. 2023, as previously reported by Blaze News, after an investigation pointed to him as the arsonist.

On Thursday, a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Texas said that the man had been indicted on July 1 on 12 counts related to the fire.

Prosecutors said that Roberson hired three men, one of whom was a relative, to commit the arson so that he could make an insurance claim on his property with State Farm Insurance. However, something went wrong, and two of the three alleged arsonists died in the flames, prosecutors believe.

According to KTRK, police found the man who had driven away from the house fire after he crashed his truck into a ditch. Police body-camera video obtained by the station showed that he told police he was brought out for an insurance scam.

"I'm telling you. I'm from Houston. This dude, he told me to bring him out here to Huntsville," the man reportedly said. "He said somebody wants to do a numbers job on a house."

Police said a "numbers job" refers to insurance scams.

"Whoever is doing it, he knows the man with the house," said the man. "A numbers job or something. That's all I know."

Roberson denied the claims, but KTRK said it also found several civil lawsuits against him, mostly related to money.

The most serious charge Roberson faces is conspiracy to commit arson against a property used in interstate or foreign commerce resulting in death, which carries a sentence of life in prison.

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Roberson also faces charges ranging from wire fraud to conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to violate the Travel Act.

“The defendant is alleged to have orchestrated a scheme to collect an insurance payout through a purported racially motivated arson, which led to two deaths,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “Now that he is in federal custody, he will answer these charges and, if found guilty, be held accountable for the death of these two men.”

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