Columbia man pleads guilty to setting mattress on fire in apartment hallway

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man who was accused of setting a mattress on fire at a downtown Columbia apartment complex pleaded guilty on Tuesday to first-degree arson.

Nicholas Gerken, 35, will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Monday, March 18 at the Boone County Courthouse. He is being held at the Boone County Courthouse.

According to previous reporting, court documents said Gerken took a discarded mattress from the alley behind the Rise Apartments and placed it in a small hallway. The mattress was placed near a bike storage room near the parking area of the building, the document states.

Gerken set the mattress on fire and watched the response from the Columbia Fire Department from the top story of a parking garage at Tenth and Cherry streets, according to the probable cause statement.

There were about 378 people in the building, the statement says. The fire allegedly caused damage to the bike storage door, as well as the ceiling and walls of the building, court documents say. Police identified Gerken from surveillance video provided by the apartment complex, the statement says. 

In another case, Gerken is charged with two counts of second-degree property damage, both misdemeanors. A case review is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23. Pleaded guilty to drug possession in another case on Tuesday. He will be sentenced in that case on March 18.