Man Tells Authorities He Set Fire to Return to Prison
Posted
Joe Boals-jboals@timesuniononline.com
ATWOOD – A Warsaw man was arrested after it was discovered he set a house on fire Tuesday afternoon. Atwood Fire Department, with a tanker from Etna Green, were called to 6321 W. CR 100N, Warsaw, just outside of Atwood, shortly after 2 p.m. to a call of smoke coming from the house. Crews quickly extinguished the flames, but while they were on scene a fight broke out. Firefighters broke up the fight and called Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department to respond. Once on scene, KCSD located James Franklin Osborne Jr., 38, who immediately admitted to starting the fire because he wanted to return to prison. Osborne, who lives at the home, became disgruntled with his family and set the fire after they left, according to information from KCSD. Several witnesses alerted dispatch regarding the house fire as well as the ensuing physical altercation involving Osborne and a neighboring family member. Osborne’s arrest record includes an arrest in June 2011 for resisting/fleeing law enforcement, possession of a controlled substance, public intoxication and a probation violation. He was sentenced to the Indiana Department of Corrections in June 2011 and released in August 2012. Osborne was arrested Tuesday on a preliminary felony charge of arson. He is being held on a $10,000 bond in the Kosciusko County Jail. No one was injured in the fire and the family pets had escaped unharmed. Squad 70 is investigating the fire and the American Red Cross provided assistance to the other members of the household.
