A Dallas restaurant owner is speaking out after the man convicted of setting her business on fire returned to the property and allegedly threatened to burn it down again, just months after receiving probation for the original crime.
Jeneise Wood owns the restaurant on Maple Avenue in Dallas that was severely damaged in a fire back in March. Surveillance footage captured David Oliver returning to the establishment on Thursday, banging on the doors and making threats to ignite another fire.
Oliver was sentenced on July 21 to three years of probation on the arson charge connected to the March blaze. As part of his plea deal, he was ordered to have no contact with the restaurant, a condition he allegedly violated almost immediately.
Wood said five people were inside the building when Oliver started the first fire, and she remains shaken by how close the situation came to turning deadly. She has since been carrying a firearm more frequently out of concern for her personal safety.
“I’m carrying my gun a lot more” Wood said. “Which really sucks because this isn’t even as bad as people claim this area to be.”
Wood also said Oliver started a fire at the neighboring restaurant Maple and Motor on the same day as the attack on her business. Dallas County court records reveal that Oliver has accumulated 15 criminal cases since 2022.
According to an arrest affidavit from the original March incident investigators found a mini torch among Oliver’s belongings. Oliver told investigators at the time that he heard voices telling him to do things but denied they instructed him to start fires and denied any involvement altogether.
Wood says the light sentence Oliver received has left her and other nearby business owners vulnerable. She is now calling on Dallas city leaders to take action and meet with local business owners to address the growing concerns about crime in the neighborhood.
“I would love to sit down with council members” Wood said. “We would love to sit down with our community leaders and figure out what we can do to stop all the theft, all the crimes, all the fires.”
The visible ceiling damage still present inside her restaurant serves as a constant reminder of what she endured and what she fears could happen again. Wood says the criminal justice system has failed to adequately protect small business owners from repeat offenders who pose a clear and ongoing threat to public safety.