STERLING, Va. — A man pleaded guilty after setting fire to cars and a home where the parents of a woman he had been convicted of stalking were sleeping inside.
According to a spokesperson with the Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System, Julian Darius Karapetkov, pleaded guilty Thursday. While he was originally charged with attempted murder in the commission of arson and stalking, he pleaded guilty to burning or destroying personal property and standing grain, etc. exceeding $1,000.
The fire happened around 4 a.m. on Sunday, September 4, 2022.
The Loudoun County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call reporting a fire at a home on Whittingham Circle. When firefighters arrived, they found two cars on fire in a drive away and flames coming from the front of the home.
Firefighters quickly put out the flames and learned from the people who were inside the home that they escaped after hearing loud noises from the vehicle fire.
While no injuries were reported, damages were estimated to be around $20,000 between the home and cars.
While investigating, officials determined the fire was started intentionally using an accelerant.
Karapetkov was connected to the fires. The then-19-year-old George Mason University student had previously been found guilty of stalking the daughter of the fire victims that same year, according to a criminal complaint.
Karapetkov and the victim both attended Potomac Falls High School. During their senior year, the court documents state that the girl, "rejected the subject's romantic advances."
The young woman then moved to Richmond, Virginia to attend college, but Karapetkov continued his advances, sending her up to 35 messages a day according to the complaint,
After receiving a three-month sentence in Richmond, the Sterling man was released in August under the condition that he would have no contact with the victim and that he would be under his parent's constant supervision.
But just days after his release, the young woman started receiving messages that she was being tagged in videos on TikTok.
On Sept. 4, a friend of both the victim and Karapetkov posted an 11-second clip on social media that showed one second of the young woman at a party.
Three hours later, her family home was set on fire with her parents inside.
Karapetko was arrested in September 2022. He has remained at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on no bond.
Karapetkov will be sentenced in July 2024.
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