Owner Arrested on Arson Charges
***UPDATE 10:34 P.M.***On Monday witnesses remembered when Everhart’s Sporting Goods went go up in flames. “It just surprised me there was a fire and then the next day I came over to see what was going on,” said Jeff Bexten who used to work for Kurt Steidley.Investigators with Jefferson City Fire and the State Fire Marshall did, so Monday the Cole County Prosecutor took action after a long investigation.”The grand jury indictment unsealed today charges that he knowingly damaged a building by starting a fire and that is called arson in the second degree,” Said Prosecutor Mark Richardson.However, businesses in the area expected an arrest a long time ago. When ABC 17 News asked Ronnie Mitchell from a neighboring business if people suspected arson, he said “Everybody I talked to suspected arson because everybody heard the same thing. I heard that they had only been open for a few months and the company was already going under.”Former employees on the other hand never thought Steidley was behind the crime, no matter how slow business got. “I just thought he would never do nothing like that… I didn’t think he would,” said Bexten.Prosecutor Steidley will be appear in court in Cole County sometime within the next thirty days.***ORIGINAL STORY***The owner of a Jefferson City sporting goods store was arrested for allegedly setting his store on fire.The Jefferson City Fire Department said 52-year-old Kurt Steidley was arrested Monday after a Cole County Grand Jury indicted him on a charge of second-degree arson.Fire crews responded to a January 1, 2011 fire at Everhart’s Sporting Goods in the 2400 block of Missouri Boulevard. Firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the building when they first arrived. An investigation into the fire was conducted by JCFD, the Missouri Division of Fire Safety, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.Officials say the store was not in operation at the time of the fire had had been closed since December 24, 2010.Steidley was released from the Warrensburg Police Department after posting a $25,000 bond.
