Michigan man asks church for gasoline before setting his home on fire, police say
(CBS DETROIT) — A northern Michigan man is charged with arson after police say he asked a church for gasoline before setting his house on fire.
Michigan State Police say a man wearing a hunter's orange camouflage jacket went to a Mesick church around 11 a.m. on Jan. 7 and asked to borrow a can of gasoline because "he wanted to burn his house down that he had been working on." The church called 911 to report the incident, and troopers searched the area but weren't able to locate the man.
A few hours later, around 12:14 p.m., firefighters and troopers responded to a house fire on West John Street in Mesick. A witness told police that they saw a man wearing a hunter's orange camouflage jacket running out of the home with one of his jacket sleeves partially on fire.
Shortly after, Wexford County Central Dispatch received a call about a man wearing a hunter's orange camouflage jacket requesting an ambulance at a car wash just a few blocks away from the fire.
When troopers arrived at the car wash, they found 33-year-old Brandon Michael Sias of Mesick. Police said they could smell an odor of gasoline coming from his clothes and saw a gas can nozzle sticking out from his front pocket. Sias was arrested and lodged in the Wexford County Jail after he was cleared by medical personnel.
Sias was arraigned Wednesday in a Wexford County court on one count of second-degree arson. His bond was set at $250,000.
Sias is due back in court on Jan. 21.
