Jan. 04--An inmate in the Daviess County Detention Center was charged with arson Thursday for allegedly starting a fire in a jail cell.
Major Bill Billings, chief deputy of the detention center, said Matthew P. Bacon, 23, of Redding, Ohio, was charged with first-degree arson Thursday, in connection with the Dec. 30 incident.
Bacon is a state inmate who is serving a five-year sentence after being convicted of first-degree robbery in Kenton County in 2011.
Billings said a deputy jailer was walking though a cell block at about 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 30 when he saw a glow coming from a shower in a 25-person cell pod.
Billings said the deputy jailer found a fire in the shower that was emitting heavy black smoke.
The deputy jailer, Benjamin Fleury, was able to put the fire out by running the shower, Billings said.
Billings said deputies found pieces of paper that contained Bacon's name in the burned material. Deputies questioned Bacon, who admitted starting the fire, Billings said.
"Supposedly (Bacon) was in the process of making homemade tattoos," Billings said.
Investigators believe Bacon started the fire by inserting aluminum packaging from a food container into an electrical outlet to create sparks, which then set paper on fire.
The fire also contained burning plastic, which creates a residue that inmates mix with water to make "ink" for homemade tattoos, Billings said.
The fire "was already starting to get bigger," when the deputy jailer discovered the blaze, Billings said.
Fleury "caught it quickly enough," Billings said. "There's not a lot that will burn in the jail cells except the inmates' possessions."
No one was injured and the cell was not damaged.
Billings said jail staff consulted with the county Commonwealth's Attorney's office, which recommended charging Bacon with first-degree arson. State law says a person is guilty of first-degree arson when "with intent to destroy or damage a building, he intentionally starts a fire ... and the building is inhabited or occupied."
"Smoke is the No. 1 killer in fires," Billings said. The fire "definitely endangered the lives of the other inmates," Billings said.
First-degree arson is a class A felony, punishable upon conviction by 20 years to life in prison.
James Mayse, 691-7303, [email protected]
Copyright 2013 - Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
