Man Sentenced for Historic Eagan City Hall Arson

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announced that Michael Duane Damron, 53, of Prior Lake, was sentenced to 84 months in prison in connection with a fire that significantly damaged the Historic Eagan City Hall on Sept. 8, 2013. Damron pled guilty on Oct. 14 to one count of arson. Restitution was ordered in the amount of $286,395.62 to the city of Eagan and $21,895 to Eagan Fire in connection with the Arson.

Damron also pled guilty to one count of burglary involving a case from October of 2013 and was sentenced to 30 months in prison which will be served concurrently, according to a news release.

Restitution in the amount of $158,658.59 was also ordered to be paid to the victim in this case. Damron’s brother and co-defendant Wynn Donald Arvidson, age 51, also of Prior Lake, pled guilty to one count of arson.

The allegations contained in the criminal complaint reflect that Damron had been upset for a number of years with Eagan officials stemming from a prior criminal investigation in 2006 that involved multiple thefts in the cities of Eagan, Inver Grove Heights, Shakopee, Savage, Burnsville, Lakeville, Elko, Prior Lake and Le Sueur County.

The Damron/Arvidson family had unsuccessfully sued the cities of Eagan and Inver Grove Heights for $12 million because they felt the police had taken items belonging to them in the course of this 2006 criminal investigation. Damron also has a previous history of writing threatening letters to various officials and vandalism against entities he is upset with.

"We are pleased to hold these defendants accountable for this premeditated crime of violence that caused significant damage to Eagan’s Historic City Hall," Backstrom said in a statement.

Image via Quazie, Flickr, used under Creative Commons