The vacant Salvation Army Store fire on Genesse Street in Waukegan on the 4th of May was determined to be arson. A suspect is currently in custody for setting the fire. Jeff Rudolph photo

On May 4, 2011 the Waukegan Fire Department fought a fire in the vacant Salvation Army store at 133 S. Genesee Street. (photos from that fire can be seen HERE and HERE). Jeff Rudolph found an article in The Chicago Tribune pertaining to an arrest relating to that fire which was determined to be arson.

A longtime Waukegan business owner who ran for mayor and the Lake County Board has been arrested on charges that he intentionally set a fire that destroyed a local building in May.

Gregory D. Flesher, 48, of the 2500 block of Chestnut Street, appeared in bond court this afternoon on charges of arson and criminal damage to property.

Authorities allege that in the early-morning hours of May 4, Flesher used bolt cutters to enter the long-vacant former Salvation Army building at 133 S. Genesee St., and started a fire using fireworks and gasoline. No one was injured in the blaze, which took dozens of firefighters from multiple departments hours to douse, but the building was a total loss and had to be demolished.

Flesher is also being eyed as a suspect in a fatal fire in Canada that occurred on May 19. Officials in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, said Flesher has not been charged in the apartment building blaze, which killed a 48-year-old woman. But Lake County prosecutors said during Flesher’s bond hearing today that he admitted to setting that fire while he was being questioned about the Waukegan blaze.

The complete article can be found HERE.

Information on the fire in Cana a is HERE, HERE.

Tags: arson, arson suspect arrested, Jeff Rudolph, Salvation Army building fire in Waukegan, Waukegan Fire Department