Arbogast

BUCKHANNON — An Upshur County man faces four felony charges after allegedly lighting a woman’s tent on fire — while she was inside it.

Steven Dewayne Arbogast, 44, is charged with one count of attempted malicious assault, one count of causing injuries during an arson-related crime, one count of unlawfully setting fire on lands and one count of assault in the commission of a felony, all felonies. He is currently being held at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $60,000 cash-only bond.

According to the criminal complaint, filed by Patrolman Cole Bender with the Buckhannon Police Department, on Sept. 12, Bender was made aware of a protective order against Arbogast. Bender made contact with the petitioner, the alleged victim, who stated that on Sept. 9, Arbogast had set fire to her tent located in the woods behind the former Novelis plant.

The alleged victim stated that she was in the tent when Arbogast set the tent on fire with a lighter, and Arbogast allegedly told her “he hoped I burned with the tent,” the complaint states. When the alleged victim began to scream, Arbogast allegedly said if she did not stop screaming, he would slit her throat.

Arbogast, according to the alleged victim, was allegedly drunk during this event and the alleged victim was “unable to stop him from lighting more spots on fire in the tent,” the complaint states. The alleged victim said Arbogast had grabbed the back of her clothes and tried to “throw her towards the burning tent.”

According to the complaint, the alleged victim said this all began because Arbogast was trying to force himself on her and she refused.

On Sept. 13, Arbogast called the COMM Center and met with Bender at the police station, the complaint states. Arbogast stated that he had lit the tent on fire, but claimed it was his tent and denied that he tried to force himself on the alleged victim.

The alleged victim had bruises on her legs and later showed Bender burns around her fingers from the fire, the complaint states. She also provided police with Facebook messages from July 30, allegedly from Arbogast, which were “threatening.”

The complaint states that one of the comments allegedly from Arbogast said, “Get your buddies hell coming just like I told (an acquaintance) he ain’t got my money by this week or next week. I’m kicking your door off and I’m burning your f***ing house down.”

Bender writes that the land the tent was burned on was on Novelis property, “with heavy brush and grass all around,” the complaint states. The owners of Novelis “did not give (Arbogast) permission to burn anything on the property.”