A 21-year-old rural Mountain Home man, Mitchel Dylan Teconchuk, has been charged with arson, following a fire Sunday afternoon at a residence located at 3215 Highway 62 East. While no injuries were reported from the fire, a cat was lost.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says Teconchuk is no stranger to law enforcement officers. He has been booked into the Baxter County Jail 12 previous times and is also being held on a probation violation from previous felony convictions. Since 2014, he has been arrested and charged with parole revocation four separate times, forgery, felony fleeing, breaking or entering, shoplifting, theft of property, contempt of court, three hot check incidents, and felony theft of property.
In the latest incident, firefighters from Northeast Lakeside, Henderson and Hand Cove responded and were able to extinguish the blaze before the house was a total loss. Firefighters were suspicious of the fire and requested assistance from the Baxter County Sheriffs Office.
Sheriff Montgomery says Sergeant Brad Hurst determined the fire had been purposely set. Three forged checks were recovered belonging to the home owners. During the course of the investigation, the son-in-law of the home owners was developed as a suspect. Many of the suspects statements made during an interview were later determined to be false.
The suspect was interviewed a second time on Thursday and admitted to the arson and other crimes. Based upon evidence collected, interviews of witnesses and statements by the suspect, Montgomery says investigators believe Teconchuk knew the homeowners were out of town that day and drove to their home, set it on fire, then drove back to his home, picked up his wife, the daughter of the home owners, drove back to her parents’ home to make it look like they had discovered the fire. Teconchuk had his wife call 9-1-1 to report the fire. Investigators believe the fire was set to cover up that Teconchuk had stolen items from the residence along with other crimes.
Teconchuk was arrested and charged with arson, residential burglary, filing a false report, and three counts of forgery, all felonies.
He being held in the Baxter County Detention Center on $150,000 pending his appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court.
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