STORM LAKE, IA—A Newell, IA, man has pleaded not guilty to setting a fire that destroyed three vacant buildings in Newell in 2017.
Brent Mack, 25, entered his written plea Friday in Buena Vista County District Court to charges of first-degree arson and first-degree criminal mischief.
Mack was arrested Oct. 14 after an investigation into the Sept. 13, 2017, fire in the 100 block of South Fulton Street in Newell.
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According to court documents, roommates of Mack, who was a volunteer firefighter in Newell, said he left home about 30-45 minutes before the fire was reported, telling them he was reporting to a fire call even though the fire had not yet been called in.
In February 2018, police were informed that a key-cutting machine was missing from one of the burned buildings. The machine was later recovered at Mack's previous home.
In June 2018, police questioned Mack, who denied knowing anything about the machine. A witness told police that he and Mack visited the building after the fire and Mack pointed to a blackened spot in the rubble and told him that was where the fire had started, court documents said.
Mack is scheduled to stand trial next month on arson, burglary and criminal mischief charges in Sac County, where he is accused of setting fire to a corn crib in rural Nemaha on Aug. 19 so that he could help put it out.
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