COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Police say a Columbia businessman charged with paying a man to set fire to a trailer hid in the attic of his home for hours before surrendering.
Mehrdad Fotoohighiam is charnged with first-degree arson and is being held on $5 million cash-only bond. He pleaded not guilty during a hearing Monday.
Authorities say he paid James R. Hall to set fire to a mobile home on Dec. 15 because he wanted to expand his electrical engineering business, ETI. A woman sleeping inside the mobile home was able to escape through a window, suffering second-degree burns and carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said.
When officers went to Fotoohighiam's home Saturday night, they searched for hours before cutting a hole in a ceiling and finding him hiding in insulation in the attic, The Columbia Daily Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1T5qxGM).
About 25 officers searched from 10:30 p.m. Saturday to nearly 7 a.m. Sunday, calling Fotoohighiam's cellphone, speaking through a megaphone and yelling at his position in the attic, Assistant Chief Jeremiah Hunter said. Officers thought he was in the attic based on noise they heard but had to secure the house for safety reasons, he said.
"We went through extraordinary lengths to get him to surrender to us without having to elevate it any further," Hunter said.
Once the hole was cut in the ceiling, Fotoohighiam surrendered.
Fotoohighiam's attorney, John Roodhouse, denied the allegations against his client.
"We look forward to having a trial on this matter so we can demonstrate my client's innocence," Roodhouse said. "He's been a member of the Columbia community since the 1970s."
Fotoohighiam, who has dual citizenship in Iran and in the United States, has a master's degree and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri.
A bond reduction hearing is scheduled for July 7.