Felony Arson Charges Against My Brother

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I tried many times to add the link but it wouldn't go through. So heres the whole story. Courtesy of DuluthNewstribune.com This is sooo sad. Due to her fear of my brother she failed to show up again. At least he has the drug possesion charges as well as felong bond violation charges. Felony charge dropped after woman fails to testify Maria Lockwood, Superior Daily Telegram Published Thursday, July 26, 2007 A Superior man accused of setting fire to the bed where his girlfriend slept will no longer face a felony arson charge in Douglas County Court. The charge against James Leo Olson, 50, was amended to a misdemeanor charge of negligent handling of burning material Tuesday after the alleged victim, Lynn Bergson, failed to appear in court to testify during the third preliminary hearing set for the case. Bergson failed to appear at the initial preliminary hearing on June 27. At the second hearing on July 9, Olson didn’t appear and a warrant was ordered for his arrest. The warrant was never issued because Olson appeared later that morning. Police reports indicate Olson, who is blind, started a mattress on fire while Bergson was sleeping on it. The incident occurred in their apartment at 1116 Hughitt Ave. in the early morning hours of June 11. The two had been out drinking before the incident and got into an argument when she wanted to go to bed and he wanted to stay up, according to reports and the criminal complaint. “[Olson] never claimed it was an argument; he only claimed it was a loving exchange,” Officer Thor Trone of the Superior Police Department testified during the first preliminary hearing. Bergson fell asleep and woke to Olson saying that he lit the end of the bed on fire, the complaint states. It was burning, she told officers, and she was unable to put the flames out. Superior firefighters were called to the apartment at2:54 a.m. and they cleared the scene at 4:17 a.m., according to Superior Fire Department records. An estimated $1,000 in structural damage and $1,500 in personal property damage were reported. When police questioned Olson, he said he was smoking on the bed and it somehow started on fire. “I don’t believe the fire was caused by smoking,” testified Trone, an arson investigator for the Superior Police Department. While a cigarette in bed can cause that kind of damage, he said, there had not been enough time for one to have caused a sustained burn. When Trone and Officer Adam Poskozim brought Olson in for questioning, he changed his story. “After the issue was pressed, that’s when he said he was lying down trying to light a cigarette,” Trone testified. The Superior man also faces a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge, a felony bail jumping charge and an ordinance violation of possession of marijuana. His next court appearance is set for Aug. 20. HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~