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Oct. 28--JOPLIN, Mo. -- A 24-year-old man has been charged with setting a fire on Tuesday that damaged the porch and front room of a home at 1408 E. North St. in Joplin.
Derek A. Bills, 3902 N. St. Louis Ave., was arrested late Thursday afternoon and charged with second-degree arson.
Bills is accused of setting a fire about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday on the porch of a rental home occupied by Arnie Torrence. The fire spread to the front room of the residence before the Joplin Fire Department was able to get the blaze extinguished.
Torrence was not home at the time and no injuries were reported. The home is owned by the Rev. Henry Pullman Sr.
Police Detective Trevor Duncan alleged in an affidavit filed Friday in Jasper County Circuit Court that the suspect's motivation for setting the fire was revenge for getting "ripped off" $50 in a transaction with Torrence.
One witness told police that moments before the fire started Tuesday morning he saw Bills walking toward a house next door to Torrence's residence with a jug.
Other witnesses told police that Bills showed up at a house as fire trucks were arriving in the neighborhood and was reeking of gasoline.
They said he told them: "I just set a dude's house on fire. I gotta change. I gotta hide!"
The next day, the suspect allegedly told a witness: "I burned down his house. I got ripped off $50. I don't put up with that."
The affidavit states that Bills allegedly told another witness that he poured gasoline on the porch and then ignited the accelerant with a lit napkin.
