Investigator cites links in 2 fires at Wauseon eatery

WAUSEON - An investigator with the State Fire Marshal's Office said he determined the 2007 blaze at Doc Holliday's restaurant was arson "by process of elimination."

Testifying on the fourth day of restaurant owner Charles Bryan's trial on arson and insurance fraud charges, Frank Reitmeier said he had pinpointed the origin of the fire to the northwest corner of Mr. Bryan's second-floor office at Doc Holliday's and ruled out all possible accidental causes, such as faulty electrical wiring.

"I considered everything in the room. I considered all aspects, all possibilities," Mr. Reitmeier said.

Mr. Bryan, 40, of Wauseon is on trial before visiting Judge Charles Wittenberg in Fulton County Common Pleas Court on three counts of aggravated arson, nine counts of arson, and two counts of insurance fraud stemming from the April 14, 2007, fire that destroyed Doc Holliday's and several adjacent businesses in downtown Wauseon.

Two charges stem from a Jan. 9, 2007, fire in the utility room of the restaurant that caused considerably less damage. Ruled accidental, the smaller fire was thought to have started when paper products fell onto the floor and came into contact with the open flame of the hot water heater.

Mr. Reitmeier testified that he became aware of the January fire during an interview he conducted with Mr. Bryan after the April fire.

He said he looked at photos the Wauseon Fire Department had taken from the January fire and determined it "would have taken a human act" for the shelves holding the paper products and a toolbox to collapse and fall to the floor.

Asked by Paul Kennedy, an assistant county prosecutor, what evidence he saw from the two fires that would lead him to conclude the same person was responsible, Mr. Reitmeier said it seemed to him that the arsonist had "learned from their mistakes."

In the first fire, the door to the utility room was closed and the fire did not spread beyond that room, he said. In examining the restaurant after the second fire, he found the door to Mr. Bryan's office open.

"The door was left open to allow for more oxygen and for the fire to more easily spread," Mr. Reitmeier said.

The investigator said he could not determine what was used to ignite the April fire. A dog trained to sniff out accelerants hit on seven spots in the office, he said, but all of the samples tested negative for ignitable liquids.

While it's unclear whether Mr. Bryan will take the stand in his defense, the prosecutor played a 90-minute recording of an interview Mr. Bryan and his wife, Jennifer, had with Mr. Reitmeier five days after the fire.

Mr. Bryan, who gave Mr. Reitmeier a signed consent form to search the restaurant immediately after the fire and again a few days later, seemed to speak freely about his business, its financial situation, what had happened the night before the early morning fire, and even about the couple's personal finances.

Asked if he knew what started the fire, Mr. Bryan said no.

"I don't have a clue," he told Mr. Reitmeier in the interview. "Like I said, the only thing that was abnormal to me would've been those hoods loosening up at the same time."

He had previously told Mr. Reitmeier a contractor had cleaned the restaurant's hood system about three weeks before the fire and a week later, he noticed the belts on both units were loose and smoke was coming into the kitchen. He said he tightened them and did not have a problem after that.

Gregory Jeffries, a forensic accountant with the Ohio Attorney General's Office, told the court he had reviewed Doc Holliday's financial records at the request of the fire marshal's office and found that sales and profits had been declining in the years leading up to the fire. He said he did not see any alarming losses, but found the figures "seemed in line based on the economy."

Mr. Jeffries detailed the insurance payments paid to Doc Holliday's after the April fire, acknowledging that none was used to pay off Mr. Bryan's home or pickup truck, only to pay off the debts from his business. Asked by defense attorney Jerry Phillips whether Mr. Bryan had received a windfall of cash as a result of the fire, Mr. Jeffries said no.

Testimony is to resume at 8:30 a.m. today with cross-examination of Mr. Reitmeier. Attorneys on both sides told Judge Wittenberg they expect testimony to conclude today.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at:

jfeehan@theblade.com

or 419-724-6129.