A Theodosia man, 62-year-old Charles D. Cole is scheduled to be arraigned August 28th on a felony charge of knowingly burning. The charge stems from a July 9th incident in which Cole is alleged to have set fire to a neighbors property because he thought the neighbor had sold land Cole wanted to buy to someone else.
Cole is currently in the Missouri Department of Corrections on a parole violation on another case stemming from his reported intoxication and his arrest in the burning case.
According to the probable cause statement filed by Ozark County Deputy Justin Urich, a man called the sheriffs office on July 9th and said he saw Cole setting fire to a neighbors field on County Road 905. The dispatcher told Urich the sheriffs office had also received a report Cole was seen driving a logging truck erratically up and down several county roads in a possibly intoxicated state.
In a field adjacent to the one ablaze, Urich located the man who had reported the fire and the man told Urich another neighbor had called him and told him his property was on fire.
The neighbor said while he was waiting on the fire department to arrive, Cole walked out of the nearby woods and reportedly told the neighbor he had actually set fire to the property. Cole then reportedly walked back into the woods and began starting more fires.
The reporting party said Cole had been at his house earlier and was upset because he thought another neighbor had purchased a piece of property. Cole is reportedly to have said he would buy the property himself before he would let another neighbor buy it and, if another did buy it, he would burn it to the ground. A few hours later, the property was on fire.
The neighbor said this was not the first time Cole had threatened to set fire to his property. He reportedly told the officers Cole had physically threatened harm to him, his family and his property recently. According to the deputy’s report, the threats were confirmed by other neighbors who had also been threatened, as well as from reports made to the Ozark County Sheriffs Office.
Urich found Cole near his logging truck wearing work boots, no shirt and smoldering black jeans. The officer took a bottle of water and dumped it on Cole to extinguish the burning jeans.
Cole was arrested and was taken to the Ozark County Jail, where he consented to an alcohol breath test. The test indicated Coles blood alcohol content was .08 percent.
Cole was on parole for another offense involving violence and alcohol, and consuming alcohol is a violation of the parole in that case. He was taken to the Missouri Department of Corrections for the violation. When he is released, Cole will be transported back to Ozark County, where he will be held on a $25,000 cash-only bond and face his new charges.
media/03420_CharlesD.Cole.jpg
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI