Cape man charged with arson in Feb. fire at Cape Splash

A Cape Girardeau man was arrested on second-degree burglary and arson charges Wednesday in connection with a fire last month at Cape Splash water park after his fingerprints were found at the scene, police said.

Charles E. Clark, 36, was taken into custody without incident, police said. Bond has been set at $25,000 cash or surety.

Clark was on probation/parole for burglary and theft, police detective Joe Thomas said in a probable-cause statement filed in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.

The fire occurred Feb. 3. Cape Girardeau firefighters were called to the water park at 1565 N. Kingshighway at 7:40 a.m. and found the pump house on fire.

The building contained not only water pumps and machinery for the water park, but also maintenance equipment, according to the probable-cause statement. At the time of the fire, the water park, which operates during the spring and summer months, had been closed since Labor Day.

Cape Girardeau fire officials and state fire marshal David Biser said the fire was arson as there were "multiple points of ignition," Thomas said.

Damage was estimated at $750,000.

City employee Doyle Morton, who supervises the pump house operations, responded to the scene. In a bathroom in the building, Morton noticed a pair of yellow gloves laying on the toilet tank, Thomas said.

An evidence technician lifted latent prints from the sink in the bathroom and seized the gloves. Both were sent to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crime lab for processing.

A small, portable blow torch was found outside of the building and taken into evidence, Thomas said, adding Morton said the device typically is housed inside the building.

"Accelerant believed to be gasoline was also found in a partially melted container at the scene," Thomas wrote.

Police received the results from the crime lab on Tuesday. The palm print from the sink matched the left palm of Clark and DNA obtained from the gloves matched Clark's DNA, according to the probable-cause statement.

Clark was not a city employee and "there was no subcontract work going on at the water park," Thomas said, adding that Clark should not have been in the building.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641