Man charged with arson in multiple fires at Suburban Apartments: cops

SYCAMORE – A man has been charged with arson and residential burglary after he allegedly entered a vacant apartment unit at Suburban Apartments in unincorporated DeKalb and lit fires inside it multiple times, according to court records.

Travis Council, 32, of DeKalb is charged with arson, residential burglary, criminal trespass to land and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to DeKalb County court records. The arson charges came from an outstanding March 15 DeKalb County warrant, according to a news release from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

Council was wanted in connection to multiple reported fires inside the vacant unit, according to DeKalb County court records.

DeKalb County Sheriff’s deputies responded about 3:38 p.m. March 5 to a Suburban Apartments unit, 1400 Twombly Road, for a report of an open door. The apartment was vacant at the time, records show. When deputies arrived, they found a fire that had recently occurred in a bathroom tub filled with trash “with multiple areas of ignition throughout the apartment,” police wrote in court records filed March 22. The walls also showed spray-painted graffiti, deputies wrote.

Another incident occurred about 9:57 a.m. March 15, when deputies responded to the same vacant apartment for reports of another fire, according to court records. When they entered the vacant unit, deputies found a new fire located in the bathroom tub again and new graffiti on the walls.

Authorities estimated damages were about $26,000 to the apartment due to the fires, according to court records.

Other neighboring units in the building had tenants who were evacuated at the time of the fire by responding crews from the DeKalb Fire Department, according to court records. Witnesses told sheriff’s deputies that they saw Council allegedly exit the front door of the vacant apartment March 15 before first responders arrived, according to court records.

Witnesses told police that Council allegedly yelled “kids” started a fire and “lit up a barbeque grill in the tub,” police wrote in court records filed in DeKalb County on March 22.

No one else was seen leaving the vacant apartment at the time, according to court records. When interviewed by police, Council denied being involved or ever present, according to court records.

A next-door neighbor to the vacant unit told police she and Council and a 16-year-old had been in the vacant apartment together. The woman allegedly Council accidentally dropped a lit candle, and they tried to put it out with water and a fire extinguisher, according to court records.

A DeKalb Fire Department investigation noted multiple places inside the vacant apartment where a fire appeared to have been lit, according to court records, including on a closet ceiling which was away from the bathroom.

Sheriff’s deputies were called again to Suburban Apartments around 1:25 a.m. March 23 for reports of a suspicious person entering a vacant apartment building, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

When they arrived at the rental complex, authorities found Council and a 16-year-old, according to a news release.

Council was arrested on the outstanding March 15 arson warrant and also charged with trespassing, according to the sheriff’s office. The teenager also was charged with criminal trespass to property.

Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick ordered Council’s pretrial release March 25, court records show, although he must remain on an electronic home monitoring device. The DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office had also on March 25 filed a petition to deny Council’s release.

The DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent Council.

He is next expected to appear for a status hearing at 9 a.m. April 30.