[July 15, 2011] Fire suspect burned by credit card receipt Tweet MANKATO, Jul 14, 2011 (The Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A man who investigators say made a cool getaway from a department store after allegedly lighting a pair of shoes on fire has been charged with attempted first-degree arson. Kohl's store employees and Mankato police officers used surveillance video and records from a credit card transaction to identify the suspect from the April fire. Eric George Anderson, 24, of Mankato is scheduled to appear in court July 28 for the felony charge. The store's manager called police at about 8:45 p.m. April 11 to report a customer had started a small fire before leaving the store. When an officer arrived, she watched surveillance video that showed the man walking up to a center aisle display and lighting it on fire. The officer reported the man in the video had a pair of shorts in his hands and casually walked away after lighting the fire. He then walked up to the front of the store with another man and used a credit card to pay for the shorts and two shirts, the criminal complaint said. Store employees were not immediately able to get a name from the credit card transaction but were able to track down that information later. A maintenance employee who smothered the fire also was gone by the time the officer arrived, but he later told her he put out the fire after it was reported by a customer. The flames from the burning shoes were about 18 inches high when he took off his shirt and covered them. The credit card was traced to Andersen. He initially told the officer he hadn't been at Kohl's the night of the incident. When she told him there was surveillance video and his credit card had been used at the store that night, he allegedly admitted to being at the store and said he knew why the officer was calling. "Andersen described it as having an 'ADD moment,' and that he lit the shoes on fire," the complaint said. He said he didn't realize the display had caught fire and returned after hearing the customer call for help. Andersen also allegedly told the officer he tried to take the shoes off the shelf, but a store employee stopped him before using a shirt to douse the fire. To see more of The Free Press or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mankatofreepress.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]