Woman pleads guilty to setting series of fires

A Jefferson City woman pleaded guilty to an amended charge in connection with setting multiple fires in June.

Heather Dougherty, 31, of 500 Mulberry St., pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless burning and was placed on two years supervised probation.

She had been facing a felony charge of knowingly burning.

A Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statement shows Dougherty admitted to starting fires on multiple occasions inside an apartment building while it was occupied.

On one occasion, she used a lit cigarette to ignite paper labels on the apartment building mailboxes in the bottom floor hallway.

She also set a large plastic bucket on fire inside a utility closet in the bottom floor hallway.

Dougherty told authorities she was having anxiety issues and couldn't articulate why she set the fires.

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