COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Set to graduate in about 3 months, Theodore Podewil sits inside a Richland County jail cell waiting for someone to post his $50,000 bond.
USC Police and Columbia Fire charged him with seven counts of possession of fire bombs. The Salty Nut Cafe fire happened Jan. 6 and for the past month, all investigators had as a lead were surveillance pictures.
That is, until last Saturday night when a USC beat cop found an undetonated fire bomb outside a trash can.
"Our crime scene was able to respond, collect the evidence and we were able to ultimately get a print from that evidence," said USC Police Chief Scott Prill.
That same night, police say Podewil admitted to throwing two fire bombs into a Pendleton Street home, then tossed a third into the street.
Police say, Podewil wasn't about to stop there.
"I think it was more randomly selected, but I believe he was accelerating what he was doing," said Prill.
State Law Enforcement Division records show Podewil's criminal record started growing about 10 months ago.
Podewil's rap sheet shows two DUI charges, a reckless driving charge, an open container charge, a cocaine possession charge, failure to stop for a blue light. Podewil was charge Wednesday on seven violations of the nation's anti-terrorism act.
"We want to go after the higher charge other than arson because of the nature of what this person did, so we want to make sure that this person does not have the opportunity to get out soon," said Prill.
A judge set Podewil's bond at $50,000 on Wednesday.
If convicted of the fire bomb charges, the minimum sentence is 10 years and the max is 25. All totaled: Podewil could spend 175 years in prison.
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Theodore Podewil (Source: Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center)
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