Police accuse Benton man of arson while 3 were inside home

A Benton, Missouri, man set a fire in a storage room with three people inside the house, deputies said.

Scott County sheriff’s deputies arrested Mark Anthony McTheeney, 50, on Thursday.

The Scott County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged McTheeney with first-degree arson and resisting arrest.

McTheeney was the first person to meet deputies as they arrived at the scene of the fire about 7:30 p.m. in the 4200 block of Highway 77, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by deputy Brooks Brockmire.

McTheeney said he was asleep and smelled smoke several times, Brockmire wrote. The Scott County Rural Fire Department and New Hamburg-Benton-Commerce Fire Department arrived a few minutes later.

Two witnesses said they saw McTheeney light a fire in the storage room of his house, Brockmire wrote.

One witness said McTheeney threw a burning barrel onto his lawn, and the other witness said he was spraying a support beam from some type of aerosol container, according to the statement.

McTheeney resisted Brockmire after he was placed in handcuffs, according to the statement.

Brockmire met with Missouri State Fire Marshal investigator Josh Hall because five other fires occurred at McTheeney’s residence between Oct. 18 and Dec. 6, Brockmire wrote.

Hall determined the fire was incendiary, according to the statement.

Brockmire and Hall both interviewed McTheeney. McTheeney told one story Hall quickly refuted.

McTheeney then said he lit a fire inside a metal container and spread the fire with wasp spray, Brockmire wrote.

Brockmire recovered a can of insect spray in McTheeney’s lawn near the storage room, according to the statement.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 4200 block state highway 77, Benton, MO