City man held on arson charges

Man allegedly set two fires in his home Sunday that were quickly put out

Police arrested a city man Sunday after he allegedly lit two fires in his home after being told by a family member that they would no longer help him support a drug habit, according to police and court documents.

Officers were called to an Adam Street home Sunday about 5:30 p.m. after residents there told police that Toulee Hang, 36, of Adams Street, had lit fires in his apartment and had just left, the reporting officer said.

As an officer was speaking to the witnesses, another officer spotted Hang walking on Pearl Street and stopped him to talk, the officer reported.

When Hang said he was just coming from the Adams Street residence, an officer pat frisked him and found two small pocket knives and a yellow torch lighter, the officer reported.

When the officers asked Hang about the fires, he said each was

accidental, the officer reported.

However, one of the residents told the officer that he was upstairs and when the fire detectors began going off he went downstairs and saw heavy smoke coming from underneath the

door of Hang’s apartment and flames on the threshold and carpet in front of the door. That resident saw Hang running from the room down to the basement, the officer reported. The resident quickly stomped out the fire and followed Hang to the basement and found a napkin also on fire, the officer reported.

Another resident told offi

cers that Hang was upset when Hang was turned down after asking for money to purchase drugs, the officer reported. Hang was arrested and charged with arson of a dwelling house and when arraigned on Monday, he pleaded not guilty, but was ordered held without bail pending the outcome of a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Thursday.