MESICK — Michigan State Police said a Mesick man was arrested for arson after tipping off a local church that he wanted to burn his house down.
The church told troopers that on Jan. 7 around 11 a.m., the man, wearing a hunter’s orange camouflage jacket, asked to borrow a can of gasoline to burn his house down. The church called 911 to report the incident.
Troopers were unable to find the man, but a little more than an hour later they responded to a home on fire on West John Street in Mesick. A witness spotted a man wearing a hunter’s orange camouflage jacket running out of the home with his jacket sleeve partially on fire.
Afterwards, Central Dispatch got a call about a man in an orange camo jacket requesting an ambulance at a Mesick car wash near the fire. Troopers responded and identified the man as 33-year-old Brandon Michael Sias from Mesick.
Troopers said they could smell gasoline on his clothes and saw a black gasoline can nozzle sticking out of his front jacket pocket. Sias was arrested and taken to the Wexford County Jail after being cleared by medical personnel.
Sias was arraigned Wednesday on one count Second Degree Arson. His bond was set at $250,000.
