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TOOELE — A man wanted for questioning in connection with a fire that destroyed 10 homes and damaged at least eight more in Tooele was located and arrested early Thursday.
But Tooele police booked Jesse Barger, 24, into the Tooele County Jail on outstanding warrants and not for suspicion of anything related to the fire. When asked if that meant Barger had been cleared of having any involvement with starting the fire, Tooele police spokeswoman Tanya Turnbow said she did not know.
Ten mobile and modular homes were destroyed and at least eight other homes suffered significant damage in a fire that was started in a nearby field late Tuesday and spread rapidly due to 30 to 40 mph winds.
Early damage estimates were "hundreds of thousands of dollars," according to Tooele Fire Chief Bucky Whitehouse. But he said Thursday it was still too early to have a final damage amount.
Investigators declared the cause of the fire as arson on Wednesday and announced they were looking for Barger, saying they believed he had been in the area at the time of the blaze.
Barger was located between midnight and 1 a.m. in Tooele, Turnbow said, though details of his arrest were not released. After being questioned by investigators, he was booked into jail on outstanding warrants.
According to Utah court records, Barger has several shoplifting and drug-related convictions over the past five years.
He was found guilty of possessing identification with the intent of impersonating another person, a class A misdemeanor, in 2015. He was also convicted of driving on a denied license in 2012, a class C misdemeanor, but had a warrant issued for his arrest in 2015 for failing to pay his fine, according to court records.
Barger was also convicted in separate cases in 2012 of shoplifting, a third-degree felony, possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor, and a second shoplifting case, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to up to five years at the Utah State Prison for the shoplifting convictions, court records state.
In 2011 he was convicted of attempted forgery and theft, both class A misdemeanors, in one case and misdemeanor drug charges in another, according to court records. He was also convicted of misdemeanor shoplifting in 2010, a case that also prompted a current warrant for his arrest for failing to pay his fine.
Turnbow said Thursday that police were still asking for tips from the public for information related to the fire investigation. Calls can be made to 435-882-8900 or 435-882-5600.
Contributing: McKenzie Romero, Jed Boal
