Marshals: Suspect in fatal Pinellas County arson arrested in Nevada

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U.S. Marshals arrested a man in Nevada who, Tarpon Springs police say, is a person of interest in a condo fire. 

According to Gary Schofield, a U.S. Marshal for Nevada, 34-year-old Kenneth Ellis was named as a person of interest in a homicide in Florida. Marshals tracked Ellis to Colorado and then Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police tried to stop the vehicle Ellis was driving but he took off, eventually flipping into the desert. 

"He didn't surrender, and just fled in his vehicle to the desert and wrecked the vehicle,” said Schofield. “We got him out of the vehicle after it caught on fire, it's an electric vehicle. He was taken [to a hospital] where he is currently in our custody, and once he is treated he will be booked into a county jail and extradited back to Florida."

A spokesman with the U.S. Marshals Service in Tampa Bay confirmed Ellis was being sought in connection with the death of a man in a condo fire in Tarpon Springs on Sept. 27.

The fire broke out at Sunset Shores Condominiums, and when first responders made their way inside one the unit, they found a deceased male.

The Tarpon Springs Police Department says Ellis is a person of interest in the case.

The 34-year-old is no stranger to law enforcement. His previous charges include burglary, grand theft auto, and trafficking of illegal drugs.