Homeless man is fugitive after being charged with setting dumpster fires ‘for fun’ along Lake Street

A homeless man is a fugitive Tuesday after being charged with setting five dumpster fires along West Lake Street in Minneapolis two weeks ago — including one that spread to a building with retail outlets and apartments — telling investigators he did so for his amusement.

Bennett James Thomas, 62, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with first-degree arson in connection with the string of blazes early in the morning on July 22.

Thomas was arrested that same day, released from jail on July 24 and was not in custody as of late Tuesday morning. A nationwide warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said the day after Thomas was released that “investigators were working to secure additional pertinent evidence prior to the case being sent for charges.”

After his arrest, Thomas told police that “he lights trash cans on fire for fun,” the criminal complaint read.

According to the complaint:

Firefighters first responded to an address in the 900 block of W. Lake Street that included a business and four apartments. They saw the blaze’s origin was a dumpster in the back. The flames and smoke did significant damage to the building and a parked vehicle.

Eight people who lived in the four units were asleep when the fire was set. They got out safely, but their possessions were destroyed. Total damage from the fire was estimated to be more than $200,000.

Soon afterward, another dumpster fire broke out on the same side of Lake at the Moxy Hotel in the 1100 block.

Then came three more fires in dumpsters: one on the northeast corner and Lake and S. Bryant Avenue, another on the northeast corner of Lake and S. Girard Avenue, and yet another near the Walgreens pharmacy in the 1200 block of Lake.

Two Moxy Hotel employees said they saw on security video a man wearing a towel on his head and carrying a grill lighter. Investigators saw him loitering nearby with the lighter and had him arrested.

While police were taking him to jail, he told an officer that he threw a Molotov cocktail through a window because someone spit in his food, and that he and his girlfriend were in the city goofing around and setting fires.

He admitted to starting various dumpsters on fire but not to torching any building. Various surveillance video captured Thomas igniting the fires.

Star Tribune staff writer Susan Du contributed to this story.