Man Charged With Arson After Claiming Food Smoker Started House Fire

PALATINE, IL — A former resident is accused of intentionally setting the fire that significantly damaged his Palatine home in March despite originally claiming an outside charcoal-wood smoker was the cause of the blaze, according to police.

Richard Moss, 43, and currently living in Warrenville, IL, was arrested and charged Monday with felony residential arson in connection with a March 6 house fire in the 1000 block of North Penny Lane, where he was living at the time. He's being held on $75,000 bail, and his next court date is Oct. 27.

No one was injured in the March fire, but it did cause severe damage to the house's basement. After the Palatine Fire Department extinguished the blaze, Moss said at the time that a charcoal-wood smoker outside his house had ignited and started the fire, according to Palatine police.

An investigation by the fire department and the Illinois State Fire Marshal, however, determined that the blaze began when a mattress in the basement was intentionally set on fire. Investigators also discovered that the food smoker Moss had blamed for the fire had not been in use at that time, police said.

Richard Moss (photo via Palatine Police Department)

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