Friday, April 7, 2017, 5:00 PM
LaGrange, IN – Indiana Conservation Officers have conducted an
Weldon was booked into the LaGrange County Jail today on multiple charges, including five counts of arson, a Level 4 felony, and six counts of criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor.
Conservation Officers initiated the investigation in February after several wildland fires occurred on and around the Pigeon River Fish & Wildlife Area. Several other suspicious wildland fires have occurred since on both state and private properties in LaGrange and Steuben Counties.
On March 22, a wildland fire was reported near Mongo in LaGrange County. After the Mongo Volunteer Firefighters extinguished the fire, an Indiana Conservation Officer interviewed Weldon, who confessed to intentionally setting several fires in the area since February.
Conservation Officers were assisted in the investigation by the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department, a Marion Fire Department canine named “Jersey” and her handler of the Marion Fire Department, LaGrange Fire Department, Mongo Fire Department and Orland Fire Department, Indiana DNR Wildland Firefighters and Personnel employed at the Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area, Orland Volunteer Fire Department, Howe Fire Department.
All charges are merely allegations and all people are innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
SOURCE: Indiana DNR Law Enforcement Division