Creston woman sentenced after June arson case

Shelia Renae Shoults, 42, 802 W. Adams St., was sentenced to five years probation Nov. 9 after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree arson.

Shoults was charged after a string of fires in June at a residence located at 805 1/2 W. Jefferson St. in Creston. When Shoults was charged, the house had caught fire four times before, with other attempts indicating the house was deliberately set on fire.

A camera was placed in the house in an attempt to capture any illegal activity within the residence. Creston Fire Department successfully removed the camera from the house and images captured on the camera showed the suspect.

“(That) night, when the fire call came in, the first thing the fire department did was go and get the camera out and lo and behold, we had a suspect on it,” said Creston Police Chief Paul Ver Meer.

“We saw her walk through the house and back toward the entry point,” Creston Fire Chief Todd Jackson said. “She admitted at that point she had ignited some material in the house with a lighter. That was consistent with the images we had.”

Jackson said Shoults admitted to using a stack of magazines and a bag of charcoal in the two other incidents Shoults confessed to.

Shoults said she was tired of all the strange people going in and out of the house, and staying in it. She was also concerned because children went into the house as well. Shoults had taken steps to have the property condemned, but felt the process was taking too long.

Originally charged with three counts of first-degree arson July 1, Shoults’ charges were reduced during the sentencing process last week.

According to Union County Attorney Tim Kenyon, Shoults did not have any significant criminal history, and would most likely have been eligible for a deferred sentence. Her three counts of first-degree arson were also reduced to two counts of second-degree arson.

“The difference between first-degree and second-degree is whether or not there was a person that was actually present,” said Kenyon. “The specific language has to do with whether or not there was a person anticipated to be in or near the property (at the time of the arson).

"This was the same debate they dealt with over in Madison County with their bridges," Kenyon explained. "They originally charged those folks with arson in the first degree, but as you follow through these things, it's not enough that someone could have been present. There needed to be some definite indication that somebody was present, or someone actually present.

“And since that information was not available (in this case),” said Kenyon, “we went with the lesser offense, which was arson in the second degree.”