Illinois Teen Charged with Burning Down Metro East Mayor's House

A nineteen-year-old is in custody today after being charged in connection with a fire in early December that destroyed a Metro East mayor's home.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports that Yadarius A. Crawford was charged with arson on Thursday for allegedly setting Alorton Mayor JoAnn Reed's house on fire on December 3. The charge is a class X felony, a serious offense in Illinois that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of six to thirty years and no possibility of probation.

St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly says Crawford knowingly damaged Reed's home, located in the 100 block of North 42nd Street, and was aware that Reed was present at the time. Reed escaped the fire with only the clothes on her back, and credits her security company with saving her life.

“Fifty-two years of memories are gone,” Reed told the Belleville News-Democrat at the time of the fire. “My family and I no longer have pictures of my mother when she was sixteen, seventeen years old. All of our family heirlooms are gone. All of the things you cannot replace are gone.”

Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/12/21/illinois-teen-charged-with-burning-down-metro-east-mayors-house