LEMAY, Mo. — A second person was charged after an investigation of suspicious fires in south St. Louis County.
Steven Mathew Stiner was charged with second-degree arson Thursday in connection with a fire at a vacant house on Oct. 21. He is the second person charged this week with arson in connection with suspicious fires in Lemay, Missouri.
According to charging documents, Stiner was seen in home security video walking away from a home on Lark Avenue within minutes of a fire being reported at the home. When investigators with the St. Louis Regional Bomb and Arson Unit found Stiner at his mother's home, Stiner was wearing the same clothes seen in the video and he smelled like smoke. His mother's home was within walking distance of the fire, according to charging documents.
Investigators said they also spoke with a cashier at a nearby 7-Eleven who said she had spoken with Stiner. She said Stiner told her that he was inside a house and set the house on fire with a cigarette.
During an interview with investigators that began with Stiner being read his Miranda Rights, Stiner said he was in the house. He said he may have started the fire when he flicked a cigarette at the house when he was walking by.
A firefighter was injured while trying to extinguish the flames. The district said the firefighter partially fell through the floor and suffered a minor injury.
In a press release earlier in the week, the Lemay Fire Protection District said there have been more than 20 suspicious fires in the city this year, including the one on Lark Avenue.
Earlier in the week, 31-year-old Joseph Blalock was charged with one count of knowingly burning or exploding wood pallets behind the South St. Louis County Floor & Decor Store.
A day before the fire on Lark Avenue, another vacant house caught fire on the 700 block of Dammert Avenue, less than two miles away. Investigators with the St. Louis Regional Bomb and Arson Unit investigators were handling the investigation into that fire as well.
Investigators have not said if Stiner or Blalock were involved in any of the other fires in the region.
Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call 314-615-5400 or leave an anonymous tip with CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.