Judge denies Columbia arson suspect’s request for bond reduction

A Columbia business man charged with arson after reportedly paying an employee to set a neighbor’s home on fire will not have his $5 million bond reduced as requested.

Mehrdad Fotoohighiam was arrested for arson in a December trailer fire on Rock Quarry Road.

A Boone County judge made the decision Friday afternoon, saying the man is a flight risk because of his dual citizenship with Iran.

Fotoohighiam owns Electenergy Technologies Inc. (ETI) which is right next door to the trailer that was torched.

One of his employees, who has since walked away from the job, said Fotoohighiam went by the name of Mike Mehrdad and that Mehrdad had an ongoing dispute with the woman who owned the trailer.

According to court documents, Fotoohighiam approached multiple employees, offering to pay them $500 to set her trailer on fire so he could expand his business on her land.

“I moved down here June 5 from Hannibal and went to work on June 9 with him,” said Herschel Butler, a former ETI employee. “Two weeks later, he’s arrested.”

Butler said his boss Mike Mehrdad seemed like a normal businessman and a great leader.

But he said after he put the pieces together and found out about Fotoohighiam’s possible involvement in a December arson, he was shocked.

Fotoohighiam even appeared in Inside Columbia’s CEO magazine before his arrest earlier this month.

James Hall, another one of Fotoohighiam’s employees, is charged with first degree arson in the case, but he hasn’t admitted taking money for doing the job.

Butler said he came to visit the business in Columbia back in December, when he was thinking of moving to the area to work in the ETI sales department.

He said that’s when he first met James Hall.

“I noticed James in the hallway and I asked him, ‘What happened to your eyebrows?’ Butler said. “His eyebrows were completely gone and he was just, ‘Oh, I had a little accident, I had a little accident.'”

Fast forward several months and both men are sitting in the Boone County Jail.

Fotoohighiam was arrested earlier this month after he barricaded himself in his home when authorities came to take him into custody for his alleged involvement in the crime.

Butler said many people’s jobs have been affected by Fotoohighiam’s actions.

“I know the first week he was locked up, we were starting to get a lot of phone calls worldwide trying to find out where Doctor Mehrdad is,” Butler said.

As far as the judge denying Fotoohighiam’s $5 million bond reduction Friday…

“I’m not surprised it wasn’t reduced,” Butler said. “He’s an international traveler, he’s got businesses all over the world. He’s got friends and associates all over the world. I think they did the right thing.”

In court Friday, the prosecutor not only said Fotoohighiam was a flight risk, but that he has also been calling employees from the jail and asking them to give money to Hall, his co-defendant.

Fotoohighiam’s bond remains at $5 million cash only.