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Nov. 02--BRIDGEPORT -- Accused Fairfield serial arsonist Christopher Message was arrested Wednesday and charged with setting fire to three Monroe businesses last August.
Message, 34, a former EMT and volunteer firefighter, was arrested at the Golden Hill Street courthouse. He was charged with first-degree arson, third-degree arson, criminal mischief and two counts of third-degree burglary.
He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Message, who had served as a volunteer firefighter in Trumbull from May 2002 to 2007, is awaiting trial for allegedly setting fires in the early hours of Sept. 8 at 1300 North Benson Road, 321 Woodridge Ave., and 53 Cornell Road in Fairfield. All three houses were vacant and for sale.
Following his arrest, police said Message confessed to setting the fires and went with detectives back to the scenes where he demonstrated how he had set the fires.
Following his arrest in Fairfield, Monroe police said Message confessed to setting the fires that destroyed the Rustic Grille at 494 Main St. and damaged the adjoining Frank's Barber Shop and Matt and Louie's Barbershop at 258 Main St. on Aug. 8.
Message told detectives he torched both the barbershops because he felt the owners had been rude to him when he had tried to get a job there.
Message subsequently went to work at a Bridgeport barbershop.
Police said Message told them he had been drinking at the Bubble Lounge in Fairfield and then decided to drive to his girlfriend's home in Monroe. While traveling north on Route 25 he suddenly got a thought of setting a fire, police continued.
He pulled into the parking lot in front of Frank's Barbershop, broke the front window of the shop and attempted to light the curtains on fire. When they wouldn't light, police said he told them he broke into an electrical room at the back of the building and lit three areas on fire with his lighter.
He got back into his car and then drove to the other barbershop where police said he broke a window in the shop's front door. He grabbed some garbage from a nearby garbage bin and set it on fire against the door, police said.
Contact Daniel Tepfer at 203-330-6308 or [email protected]. Follow him on twitter.com/dantepfer
