Homeless man arrested for setting fire to homeless encampment, resulting in large brush fire on Newberry Road

Staff report

Updated at 4 p.m. on January 2 with bail information.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Justin Will Croft, 33, was arrested yesterday for allegedly setting fire to two homeless encampments, resulting in a large brush fire on Newberry Road.

On January 1, Alachua County Fire Rescue responded to a fire at a homeless encampment in the woods in the 7700 block of West Newberry Road, where they learned that other residents of the encampment suspected that the fire had been intentionally set by Croft. A witness provided descriptions of people who were seen running away from the fire, but deputies were unable to locate Croft or the other people at that time.

Later in the day, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a second fire in the 8000 block of West Newberry Road; they made contact with a witness in the woods, and he reportedly said he had seen Croft set fire to an encampment earlier in the day, A few hours later, the witness said, Croft started another fire at a second homeless encampment while the resident was inside. The witness also said Croft was armed with a stolen pistol.

At about 7:20 p.m., the deputy went to the second encampment and spoke with firefighters, who said that active burning on bare ground indicated the use of accelerants and meant that the fire had been intentionally set. The resident of that encampment reportedly said Croft had set her encampment on fire and that Croft had previously threatened her, saying he would “burn her place down” after they argued about the earlier fire at the first encampment.

The deputy went to Newberry Road to watch for people coming out of the woods while other deputies searched the woods, and at about 8:30 p.m., he saw three people walking out of the woods on the north side of Newberry Road. He recognized Croft from previous interactions and detained all three people.

Post Miranda, Croft denied starting any fires but could not explain how they started. He said he was not armed, and no firearm was found during a search.

One of the other people with Croft said he did not know whether Croft had set the fires at the homeless encampments, but he said Croft had burned down an abandoned house near Napolatano’s in September.

The two people who were with Croft at the time of his arrest were released.

Croft has been charged with two counts of first-degree arson. He has one felony conviction for grand theft of a motor vehicle, following a 2022 arrest for carjacking. After entering a plea of nolo contendere to grand theft of a motor vehicle, Croft was sentenced to two years of probation, but after two arrests for violating probation, he was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in the Alachua County Jail and was released on April 26, 2025. Judge Adam Lee ordered him held without bail on the new charges, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.