You know how, sometimes, you want to get rid of something and you daydream about setting it on fire? Oh, you don’t do this? It’s just me? Oh. Well, I think this goes without saying that you should not ever light something on fire—like your car—and then falsely report it stolen to the local police. That’s very Bad Behavior.
Police in Barrington, Illinois, charged Julie Gagne with arson and disorderly conduct after she set fire to her SUV, reports local outlet the Daily Herald. At around 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 10, she set her Infiniti QX70 on fire with a flamethrower she bought online.
From the story:
Barrington Police Chief David Dorn said the flamethrower, which is legal in Illinois, was left near the SUV on Grove Avenue and eventually connected to Gagne. She bought the device online, he said.
Schaumburg Deputy Police Chief Dan Roach said Gagne was in the village when she reported the theft of her SUV.
“She was at a restaurant and she called to say her car was missing when she came out of the restaurant,” Roach said.
The outlet reports that Gagne then retracted the report and turned herself in while accompanied by an attorney, but her motive is still unclear. Her bond was set at $100,000 and she was released last week, according to the Chicago Tribune. She didn’t immediately respond to the Tribune’s request for comment.
Anyway, the takeaways here are: don’t set your car on fire and flamethrowers are legal in Illinois.
(h/t to Jeff!)