Man Charged With Arson After Setting Building On Fire To Kill Cockroach

An Alabama man was arrested and jailed on an arson charge for what he claimed was simply an act of pest control. AL.com reported that Christopher Joseph Reidy, 55, of Huntsville, set an indoor bulletin board on fire Sunday in what he claimed was an attempt to kill a cockroach.

The board was in the lobby of an apartment building owned by the Huntsville Housing Authority, which provides affordable housing in the Huntsville area. Firefighters arrived around 1 p.m. and took care of the situation, which resulted in only minor damage to the building.

However, the firefighters noticed signs that the fire had been deliberately set. They called police, who investigated the scene and found video footage of someone setting the bulletin board on fire with a lighter. Reidy reportedly told authorities that he was trying to kill a cockroach, not commit arson.

Still, he was charged with arson because the bulletin board was attached to a wall inside a building. Under Alabama law, such an act is a felony and not a misdemeanor because the fire was set intentionally.

Cockroaches can carry allergens and bacteria, aside from being generally unpleasant. There have been other incidents over the years of people going to dangerous extremes to rid their homes of the oily insects, such as a Washington state woman in 2016 who set fire to her apartment by using a homemade flamethrower to kill roaches.

In December, a potent amount of roach bombs went off in Brooklyn, New York, blowing out apartment windows and killing a cat in the process.