WEST OCEAN CITY — A notorious local arsonist is being held without bond this week after being arrested for an arson in West Ocean City that destroyed a home and a boathouse and damaged three other homes.
Shortly after the fire, the Worcester County Fire Marshal’s Office concluded the cause of the blaze was arson and an investigation was initiated. In November, a warrant was issued for John Edward Cropper, 57, of West Ocean City, who is known for purposely setting fires in the area over the last several decades.
Last Friday, Cropper was arrested in Snow Hill and was charged with four counts of first-degree arson, second-degree arson and malicious burning. He was taken before a District Court Commissioner last Friday and was ordered to be held without bond. Following a bail review hearing on Monday, he was again ordered to be held without bond.
The fire occurred on June 22 around 1:50 a.m. in the area along Harbor Road in West Ocean City. Fire companies from around the area responded to fight the blaze, and two firefighters were injured.
The charges against Cropper were the result of a dual investigation by the Worcester County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation. Other agencies involved in the investigation and the processing of the scene included the Ocean City Fire Marshal’s Office, the Maryland State K-9 Division of the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the forensic division of the Ocean City Police Department.
This is not the first time Cropper has been in trouble for setting fires. In January 2011, Cropper was sentenced to 10 years with all but 18 months suspended for attempting to start a fire at a brick office building at the old Cropper Concrete plant along the bay at 1st Street in March of that year.
Previously, Cropper conducted a notorious arson spree in November and December of 1986 that included six major blazes, causing millions of dollars in damage and keeping an entire town on edge for several weeks.
Cropper was charged with arson for setting fires to the Ocean Village apartments on 78th Street on Nov. 5, 1986; a home at 77th Street on Nov. 7; a home at 73rd Street on Nov. 11; and a residence on 74th Street on Nov. 12. After setting four fires in seven days, Cropper’s spree inexplicably stopped for a month, leading investigators to believe it was over, but Cropper was at it again with a fire at the Four Winds apartments on Dec. 12, 1986 followed by another fire at a residence on 71st Street on Dec. 26.
Cropper, a 1983 graduate of Stephen Decatur, had been a fire cadet in high school and was a probationary member of the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company for about a year when the arson spree began. Cropper was arrested in April 1987 after detectives had compiled enough evidence to charge him for at least six of the blazes in the resort during the time frame. In October 2007, Cropper pleaded guilty but not criminally responsible to setting five fires in Ocean City.
The plea was accepted based on a diagnosis from a state forensic psychiatrist that Cropper suffered from pyromania, a disorder characterized by an intense fascination with setting fires. Cropper was sent to the Clifton Perkins State Psychiatric Hospital in Jessup where he was supposed to remain indefinitely until such time as he was cured of the disorder and doctors were of the opinion he would no longer be a threat to himself or others. It is unclear from reports of the era just how long Cropper spent at the state psychiatric hospital.
