Rochester Home Depot Fire: Man Charged with First-Degree Arson

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Pine Island man has been accused of starting a fire in a local business.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Olmsted County Court, a Rochester police officer was dispatched to a business in Rochester on the evening of May 23 of last year. After his arrival, the officer was told that a customer had started a fire.

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A news release issued by the Rochester Fire Department last May indicated that cardboard inside the Home Depot store in northwest Rochester had been set on fire and the fire alarm was pulled to initiate an evacuation of the business. The fire department reported that fire crews found smoke coming from the rear of the building and an active fire in the racks.

READ MORE: Rochester Police Investigating Apparent Arson Fire at Home Depot

The news release says the fire was quickly knocked down with her water line and the building was ventilated. One person was evaluated at the scene for smoke inhalation, but was not transported to the hospital.

The charging document in the case includes statements from several witnesses who saw the customer engaging in suspicious behavior in the area where the fire started. The criminal complaint says the witnesses saw the person repeatedly abandoning a shopping cart, but then returning to it and selecting a large amount of high valued items.

One of the witnesses told the officer that the suspect had been in the store for about three hours before the fire was started and was the last person present in the aisle where the witness spotted smoke. The criminal complaint says another witness who described the same behaviors and saw the suspect customer carrying a butane torch. A third witness told police she observed the suspect in the area of the fire with a lighter.

According to the court document, a detective with the Rochester Police Department reviewed multiple video clips and screenshots from surveillance cameras and was able to identify the suspect as 37-year-old John Michael Thomforde.

The criminal complaint says Thomforde was interviewed by investigators and admitted he was in the store when the fire occurred. It also states that he initially denied starting the fire, but later told an investigator that "it's a possibility as he hears voices and used drugs that day."

Thomforde has been charged with one count of first-degree arson. He is scheduled to be formally arraigned on the charge in June.

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