A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with arson for walking into a northwestern Indiana jail, pouring an accelerant on the floor and starting a small fire, a sheriff said.
The man was taken into custody Friday by police in nearby Tinley Park, Illinois, said Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. The man was being held there pending extradition to Indiana.
Surveillance video and charging documents show the man entered the jail lobby, doused the floor with gasoline, lit a stack of papers on fire and then tossed them on the floor, sending fire across the lobby. It was quickly extinguished.
No one was injured.
A jail consultant estimated fire damages at between $6,500 and $8,500, a probable cause affidavit said.
A witness told police that before the fire, the man came up to her at the front desk and spoke erratically about the current and previous governors of Indiana and President Joe Biden. He was carrying a gallon-sized jug filled with a yellow liquid, she said.
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