Casa Maria’s co-owner seeks Boone County surrender in Bootheel arson case
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A lawyer for a Columbia restauranteur accused of arson in southeast Missouri is trying to negotiate her surrender in Boone County, court documents show.
Crystal Umfress, co-owner of Casa Maria's Mexican Cantina, is facing arson charges for her alleged role in starting a fire at a restaurant this summer in the Bootheel town of Kennett in Duklin Couty.
Court documents filed in July state that Umfress contacted a witness asking her to burn a business in Kennett. A fire later broke out at Lupita's Mexican Restaurant.
Umfress allegedly hired Kerry Raymond to set the fire. A witness told Kennett police that Umfress contacted her to burn the business when Raymond was with her, according to a probable cause statement.
Umfress' lawyer, Daniel T. Moore, filed a motion to amend her $65,000 cash-only bond conditions Tuesday. He is asking the court to amend Umfress' bond conditions by allowing the removal of electronic monitoring and the curfew.
Moore argues that Umfress would have to travel to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, more than a three-hour drive from Columbia, to have an ankle monitor put on. However, Umfress' obligations as the co-owner of Casa Maria's and the need to prepare for her husband's funeral make that impractical, he wrote.
Her husband died Sunday from injuries he suffered in a car crash a week ago, the motion says.
Umfress is the sole caretaker of their children, she has no criminal history, has lived in Columbia for 16 years and is gainfully employed, Moore wrote.
Moore says if the court approves the bond agreement then Umfress is prepared to go to the Boone County Sheriff's Office and post the $65,000 cash bond.
The initial conditions of her bond included a $65,000 cash-only bond, no contact with the victim or victim's family, and that she not have weapons or alcohol or visit a bar or liquor store.
She would also not be allowed to possess any drugs or controlled substances and would have a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. This includes electronic monitoring with house arrest inside her residence.
Umfress has not been arrested and her old bond conditions remain, a Dunklin County prosecutor wrote in an emailed response to questions. The warrant includes an extradition radius of 700 miles, according to court records.
A judge is yet to rule on the defense's proposed bond changes.
