IL Man Allegedly Set Fire to His Apartment

It’s one thing for a person to burn down their own house to cash in on an insurance policy.  Let’s be clear though, that one thing is bad.  But it’s quite another to burn down an apartment someone else owns to cash in on a renter’s policy.  It requires a  complete disregard for the potential harm to others in the process.

According to the Peoria Journal Star, back in August, Tihawkmena Kamadev, 32, allegedly hatched a plan to cash in on his new renters policy. According to charges that were filed on October 9^th in Tazewell County Circuit Court, he would simply set fire to his Washington apartment.

Kamadev was charged with felony aggravated arson and insurance fraud. He remains in the Tazewell County Justice Center on $100,000 bond pending his court appearance on October 27^th.

The Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stewart Umholtz noted that Kamadev, who moved from Washington to Peoria after the fire, was arrested “without incident upon his release from Methodist Medical Center” in Peoria. He would not comment on what kind of health-related treatment Kamadev received at the hospital.

According to a court affidavit that was filed by Umholtz’s office, three days before the fire at his apartment, Kamadev purchased a $50,000 renter’s insurance policy from Progressive Insurance.

Washington firefighters were called to the complex shortly before 9 a.m. on August 9^th, where they found Kamadev lying on the grass outside a window to his apartment. Upon breaking through the locked front door, they saw smoke and flames, which they contained to the living room.

The affidavit stated that a state fire marshal investigator determined that the fire started in a love seat. Also, in several interviews after the fire, Kamadev stated that he did not know how the fire started, but guessed it was sparked by an electrical outlet. He also claimed that he’d lost his apartment keys and he suspects that someone else may have entered the residence and set the fire, which he said started while he slept and forced him to flee through his first-floor bedroom window.

Kamadev later claimed $15,095 in damages to Progressive for damaged property in the apartment that included furniture he was renting. Progressive paid a total of $1,774 in motel expenses for Kamadev after the fire, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit also noted something that Kamadev acknowledged, which was that he was having financial difficulties. A police search of his apartment resulted in a number of past-due bills and delinquency notices.

In another unrelated arson and insurance fraud case, on October 7^th a judge granted the request of Menalos Tsopelas, 65, of East Peoria, for a new public defender. He is charged with setting a fire in the Dairy King ice cream stand in East Peoria, which he owns, in May 2009. He remains free on bond pending his next court appearance on October 17^th.