Photo by ekelly80.

A Middletown man has been charged with attempted arson after he tried to set fire to the house of a Bureau of Alcohol Tabacco and Firearms agent in Frederick. John Christopher Woods, a volunteer firefighter, tried to add fuel to the flames of a gas grill outside of the ATF agent’s house. Woods told police he is in love with the agent and she had been ignoring his attempts to contact her.

The woman has been living with her parents while she is being treated for a serious illness, and was not home at the time of the attempted arson. Woods told police he had been friends with the woman for more than 20 years but he had never been romantically involved with her.