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Report: St. Augustine man returns home to find clothes ablaze; girlfriend suspected

A St. Johns County man called police after his girlfriend would not let him back into the house Wednesday, according to a St. Augustine Beach Police report.

Officers arrested Sharon McGrath, 36, for criminal mischief. She is suspected of torching her boyfriend's clothes by stuffing them into a barrel and lighting them on fire, police said.

The officer stated in the report that McGrath repeatedly said she would do "anything" if the officer would stop the patrol car in an effort to avoid going to jail.

The report said that officers responded to the call off 11th Street just before 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. Police said in the report they could see smoke from behind the house as they arrived.

The man told the officers that the shelf where all his clothes were supposed to be was empty. An officer asked to go to the backyard to see what was causing all the smoke, and that's when the barrel with the burned clothes was discovered, the report said.

The man said the value of his missing clothes was around $2,000.