Limestone County authorities want to question a Limestone County rapper, who was busted for drug trafficking in August, regarding suspected arson at his home and garage over the past two days.
Alphonso Brontay Benford, 32, of Madison – also known as rapper Mr. Btay – owns the property at 27135 Oakcrest Drive in eastern Limestone County where separate fires destroyed the unattached garage Wednesday morning and the mobile home at 11:52 p.m. Thursday.
No one was staying at the home at the time.
“It was obviously arson,” said Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely. “The garage burned Wednesday morning, and it also looked like they tried to set the house on fire. Someone saw a vehicle out there last night and saw it leave. We’ve been trying to find him – we’d like to talk to him.”
The sheriff and the state fire marshal are investigating the fires that destroyed the structures, said East Limestone Fire Chief Joey Boyd.
“The garage was pretty well burned through when we got there,” Boyd said. “The home was pretty well involved and we were on the scene until about 2 a.m.”
Firefighters from East Limestone and Oak Grove-Thatch battled the blaze.
It is the same property where Mr. Btay was arrested Aug. 5 by the sheriff’s department and Huntsville Narcotics Unit after authorities seized about $294,000 cash, seven handguns,
a half-ounce of marijuana and pills believed to be the hallucinogen ecstasy and the opioid hydrocodone.
Huntsville charged him with three counts of trafficking cocaine. Limestone County charged him with violating the Alabama Uniform Controlled Substance Act and possession of marijuana, Blakely said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was expected to add more weapons charges because, due to previous convictions, Benford was barred from possessing a handgun.
His drug investigation also involved the potential seizure of real property as well as numerous luxury and sport vehicles valued at several hundred thousand dollars, sheriff’s officials said.
After his arrest in August, Benford was in the Huntsville jail in lieu of bonds totaling $3 million. However, he was not in jail there Friday, an official said.
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