By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sharp-eyed neighbors and a set of fingerprints were the key to charges filed yesterday against a 37-year-old homeless man in a Kailua church fire in January that caused $2,000 in damage, according to court documents.
Adam Michael Albert, who has no local address, was charged yesterday with second-degree criminal property damage in the fire at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, 94 N. Kainalu Drive, on Jan. 6.
Bail was set at $25,000.
The fingerprints were taken from the glass chimney of a wall-mounted oil lamp in the church, police said. Church officials said oil from the lamp apparently was poured on Nativity scene straw and set on fire. The flames quickly spread to the church altar.
Detective James Anderson said in an affidavit that one of the neighbors who said he saw a man leaving the church grounds shortly before the fire called police on Feb. 6 and said he was "75 percent sure" he had just seen the same man again on Kainalu.
A patrol officer stopped the man and identified him as Albert. Police later matched Albert’s fingerprints with some taken from the lamp.
On Monday, investigators looking for Albert discovered he was at Tripler Army Medical Center and was about to be released.
After being identified by a psychiatrist and from his military identification number and his own statement, Albert was arrested Monday afternoon at Tripler.
[back to top] |
