CALVIN HOPPER Charged with a single count of seconddegree arson A 52-year-old Gaffney man was arrested Monday afternoon after he admitted setting fire to the Sco-Mar Textiles Outlet on East Robinson Street last week, according to the Gaffney Police Department.

Calvin Randolph Hopper, address listed in an arrest warrant as Magnolia Street, was charged by the lead investigator in the case, Gaffney Police Department Det. Sgt. Jonathan Blackwell, with a single count of second-degree arson for the June 16 blaze that leveled the commercial building.

Hopper's bond was set at $25,000 during a Tuesday morning hearing in Gaffney Municipal Court. He remained at the Cherokee County Detention Center as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the jail's booking office.

"It's unsure whether he acted alone," Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner said. "But from his admission, he did (act alone)."

Turner said investigators are still trying to determine a motive.

While test results from a SLED lab are not completed yet, police confirmed that there were multiple points of origin for the June 16 fire.

"We had basically determined there was a point (of origin) inside the building and one in a trailer (beside the building)," Turner said.

The chief added there was a possibility of multiple points of origin within the building.

Several agencies have been involved in the investigation from the start, including the Gaffney Police Department's Detective Division, SLED, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. Turner said SLED investigators have been in Gaffney almost every day since the fire occurred.

"We expected to have to wait on (lab test) results but in their diligence they (the investigators in the case) were able to put the right questions before the right people," Turner said.

Hopper was a former employee of a company that was leasing space in the East Robinson Street commercial building and allegedly was let go about a week prior to the fire, Turner confirmed.

The Gaffney Fire Department responded to the blaze around midnight and found trailers near the loading dock fully engulfed in flames. They subsequently found the interior of the building was on fire as well.

The more than 11,000- square-foot commercial building and the trailers were loaded with bundles of cloth and material, which created a heavy fire load that was difficult to extinguish.

Three additional fire departments were called in to assist the Gaffney Fire Department with the efforts. Firefighters were at the scene for more than 12 hours and had to return the following day to extinguish a flare-up.

The owner of the building, Michael Ray Childers, 59, of McArthur Street, was arrested the morning of the fire after police investigators discovered a "vast amount" of gambling devices called ball tabs or ball boards in an office on the western side of the building. Police said in a report they also found $4,841 in a bank band along with gaming receipts. Childers was charged with unlawful gaming and subsequently released on $2,500 bond.