Man charged in Roman Candle mall bathroom fire
BY LAURA SUMMERS World Correspondent
Thursday, December 06, 2012
BARTLESVILLE — An 18-year-old Bartlesville man was charged with first-degree arson after allegedly setting a fire in Washington Park Mall bathroom that caused $10,000 in damage.
Dillon Robert Walker was charged in Washington County District Court in connection with the July 31 fire that was set with a Roman Candle firework.
Associate District Judge Russell Vaclaw set a $10,000 bond in an arrest warrant and ordered Walker to stay away from the Bartlesville mall.
“During the fire, smoke migrated into the mall office and the hallway of the mall,” Bartlesville Fire Investigator Jerry Berry stated in a court affidavit. “The mall was open for business and occupied by customers and employees at the time of the fire.”
Video surveillance recordings show a white male — identified by witnesses as Walker — heading into the bathroom located in the south central part of the mall and leaving 1½ minutes later. The next person who tried to enter the bathroom, which occurred 10 minutes later, encountered heavy smoke pouring out of the room.
After the fire was extinguished, a Roman Candle was found in the mall bathroom, the affidavit stated.
About the same time the fire inside the mall was discovered, security guards were in the parking lot investigating a complaint of someone shooting off fireworks outdoors by the northwest door of the retail outlet.
A witness who was present at the mall identified Walker as the one who lit a Roman Candle outside the mall, as well as being the man on the video tape seen going in and out of the restroom just prior to the discovery of the fire, the affidavit stated.
Associated Images:
Dillon Robert Walker
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