Man burns down Montgomery County office, steals wheel loader, business out nearly $1 million
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas - Montgomery County Fire Marshal investigators arrested Michael Hart for theft of an item worth more than $300,000 and say arson charges against him are pending.
Hart is accused of stealing multiple items including two vehicles from Cook’s Earthworks, then setting fire to the business’s office.
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Chase Cook owns the business and lives right across the street. He says on October 30, he woke up to flames.
"I jumped up, come over here, and tried putting it out, but it was already too far gone," he said.
The office on his business property was completely engulfed in flames and everything inside it was destroyed.
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He noticed his torch that is kept in another building leaning up against the office, and knew the fire wasn’t an accident.
As firefighters put out the fire, he and his employees noticed more damage.
"We started looking around and realizing that everything is broken into," he said.
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He also noticed one of his 18-wheelers and a front loader were gone.
Security footage shows a strange man wandering around the property, then drive off in the 18-wheeler. About 30 minutes later, it shows the man come back and take the front loader.
Cook says they found the 18-wheeler abandoned nearby.
"The 18 wheeler was found on the side of 99 in the ditch," he says.
But the front loader wasn’t found until Monday, about 14 miles from the property.
"Windows all busted out of it and doors smashed out of it where they drove it through the woods," he said.
Cook says he hasn’t been able to assess the entire extent of the damage, but it’s going to cost them big.
"I’d say we're between $700,000 and a $1 million," he said.
Cook says it seems like the suspect took his torch to try to get into the safe that was in the office. Whether the torch was left on intentionally, or by accident, it ended up destroying several valuables.
Remotes that are on a year-long backorder, tax records, and his children’s Christmas presents are among the things burnt up.
"It wasn’t a fun sight to wake up to. And I've pretty much been down about it all week because it's how I make a living, and put food on the table for my family, and how our guys put food on the table for their families," he said.
Fire investigators say they’re continuing to investigate the incident and expect arson charges to come down soon.
They’re also investigating another New Caney arson that happened this past week, but have no evidence that links Hart to both cases at this point.
Cook built his business from the ground up, starting when he was in high school. He says it’s disheartening that someone would do something like this.
"If they just used the effort, they put into stealing things to get a job, they'd make more money," he said. "Just get a job and quit hurting people that are working."