Chicago Tribune
FORD HEIGHTS, Ill. — A Ford Heights volunteer firefighter was arrested Wednesday and charged with three counts of arson for allegedly setting afire three vacant homes in the village.
Kaumain Allen, 19, appeared in bond court Wednesday at the Markham Courthouse where he was arraigned on three separate counts of arson and issued a $120,000 bond, Steve Campbell a spokesman for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, said.
Authorities began investigating Allen, who was a candidate to become a paid firefighter, after a patrol officer on Monday found him at a vacant home on 15th Street in Ford Heights, according to a Cook County Sheriff’s Department press release. Allen told the officer, who was conducting a premise check at the residence, that the fire department had sent him to retrieve some equipment they left behind. Investigators later learned that the fire department did not send him or authorize him to be in the vacant house.
Full story: Firefighter trainee accused of setting fire to three Ford Heights residences