STERLING, Va. — A Sterling man is accused of setting fire to two cars and the family home of a young woman he had been stalking for over a year, according to Loudoun County Court documents.
According to a release from Loudoun County Fire and Rescue, crews were sent to a home on Whittingham Circle around 4 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4. When crews from Loudoun and Fairfax Counties arrived, they found two vehicles on fire in the driveway directly in front of the home and flames coming from the front of the house.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames quickly.
Two people evacuated the home after reportedly hearing loud explosions from the car fires. No injuries were reported. Officials estimate that the damages to the vehicles and home will cost around $200,000.
While investigators looked into the cause of the fire, evidence reportedly indicated an accelerant was used to intentionally set the two cars and the house on fire.
The Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal’s Office arrested Julian Darius Karapetkov Monday in connection to the fires.
A criminal complaint states that in February of this year, the 19-year-old George Mason University student was found guilty of stalking his former high school classmate in a Richmond Court.
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,
"In these messages, he professes his love and desire to be friends," documents read.
In August of 2021, the young woman reported the stalking to the Virginia Commonwealth University Police and in February, Karapetkov was found guilty of stalking.
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.
The criminal complaint details how the number of notifications the young woman was receiving on the social media platform continued to escalate. Some of the videos she was being tagged in, included her name and photograph.
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. Both managed to escape. The criminal complaint indicates that Karapetkov confessed to setting the dwelling and vehicles on fire during a Sept. 14 interview with investigators, and that he also said he knew the young woman was not inside the home.
Documents state that cell towers registered Karapetkov's phone in the area of the Whittingham Circle home at least three times; one being on Sept. 4 during the period that the cars and house were set on fire.
Karapetkov has been charged with attempted murder in commission of arson, burning or destroying a dwelling house, two counts of burning or destroying personal property, standing grain, etc. exceeding $1,000 and stalking.
Karapetkov is currently being held on no bond at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.
Vincent Fisher, 46, who lived at the residence, has been arrested and charged with an assault prior to the fire, as well as first-degree arson and murder.