A Jefferson City man has been charged with first-degree arson in connection with Saturday's fire at the Mulberry Street Apartments.
According to court documents, Don Salcedo, 39, 813 Mulberry Street, used a lighter to ignite an item on the first floor of the apartment building at 615 Mulberry, this past Saturday.
He's being held in the Cole County Jail on $100,000 bond.
A Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statement shows that Salcedo was observed on the in-house surveillance recording system inside the apartment building on three separate occasions within three hours of the arson.
Salcedo was seen on all three floors of the building and at one point uses a lighter to ignite an item and walk out of the building.
He returned at 3:59 a.m. and is seen walking up toward the third floor then leaving at 4:08 a.m., just prior to fire breaking out.
The fire caused an estimated $500,000 damage, left 20 people needing shelter, sent three people to local hospitals to be treated for smoke inhalation and required firefighters to rescue a number of tenants from their apartments as they battled the blaze.