The Alabama House campaign of Terrence Johnson has gone up in flames—literally.
Johnson, who was challenging incumbent Representative Pebblin Warren in House District 82, was arrested by Opelika Police on Wednesday on second-degree arson charges for his alleged role in a pair of fires that the Opelika Fire Department extinguished in January.
The fires occurred at By His Grace Daycare & Learning Center, at 311 South 6th Street at 3:23 a.m. on January 13, and at the Children Palace Learning Center a few days later, on January 19. Johnson is a prior lessee of the building that houses Children Palace Learning Center, which he owned until August 2025. He is the current owner of By His Grace Daycare.
Terrence Johnson
According to a deposition filed by an OPD investigator in the case, Johnson paid two accomplices $6,000 to set the fires at the establishments and communicated extensively with them before and after the fires were set.
Opelika Police last week arrested Michael Leon Green, 26, and Dante Kharari Brundidge, 28, both from Tuskegee, on arson charges. According to the deposition, both Green and Brundidge can be seen in security camera footage exiting a vehicle registered to Green and carrying containers into By His Grace Daycare. Investigators recovered Mason jars containing flammable liquids at both scenes.
The pair were also caught on security cameras entering Children Palace Learning Center, the deposition states. Additionally, cell phone records of texts and calls show extensive conversations between all three men around the times of the fires.
In addition to Opelika Police and Fire Departments, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Marshals Service participated in the investigation.
