Hospital Employee Emani Coclough Charged With Setting Several Fires At MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A woman has been arrested for setting several fires at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center over the weekend.
The fires were set both on Saturday and Sunday, with some patients forced to relocate to different rooms within the hospital due to smoke and water damage.
WJZ has learned she is an employee at the hospital and was arrested Sunday afternoon. Police identified her as 23-year-old Emani Doretha Coclough.
She has been charged with five counts of second-degree malicious burning.
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Police said she was working in the hospital at the time of the fires, of which there were five. The first was a trash bin fire in a soiled utility room on the third floor Saturday, and police responded due to the suspicious nature of the fire. They responded again for two more fires, on the fourth and fifth floors. Two more fires were discovered during a check of the hospital by staff.
A number of patients were forced to relocate to different rooms within the hospital because of smoke and water damage.
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Charging documents said police learned it took an electronic swipe card to gain access to the utility rooms. Investigators said Coclough worked in housekeeping and had access.
Witnesses reportedly told police she was assigned to the fifth floor but was spotted on other floors where the fires were set.
She is being held without bond pending a bail review hearing scheduled for Monday.
MedStar Health Central Maryland's regional director of media and public relations Debra Schindler responded to the arrest with a statement Monday morning:
"We have learned that one of our own associates has been charged with causing the series of fires on our inpatient units over the weekend. We do not wish to speculate on what motivated this one individual, preferring instead to focus on the immediate actions taken by dozens of associates to ensure patient safety during these events. Through extraordinary efforts and teamwork, MedStar Franklin Square associates maintained our usual high level of care for patients as they were temporarily moved to other locations in the hospital; kept the emergency department and operating rooms open and streamlined the clean-up. All hospital operations are currently stable."
