SAN ANTONIO — A man was arrested after he allegedly torched his girlfriend’s shed following a phone argument.
The incident began on Monday, April 13, with a phone argument between 31-year-old Joe Rudy Cruz and his girlfriend, according to an arrest affidavit.
Cruz was at Kingsborough Park after he sent his girlfriend a video message, and the situation escalated into a phone argument. Reports say that Cruz later showed up at his girlfriend’s house and began throwing rocks into her yard.
According to police, his girlfriend discovered her shed was on fire after smelling smoke while putting her son to sleep. The fire destroyed the shed and a portion of a wooden fence near it.
In a voice message obtained by police, Cruz allegedly admitted he was “playing with a torch” while intoxicated and mistakenly thought he had extinguished the flame.
Cruz was arrested on Friday and faces a second-degree felony charge of arson, jail records say.