A 24-year-old Duluth woman today became the second person to admit starting a fire in the sprinkling system of a Holiday Center bathroom causing flooding and more than $2,500 damage.
Heather Anne Zellner pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree arson in the February fire.
Judge John DeSanto directed an Arrowhead Regional Corrections probation officer to investigate Zellner's background before sentencing on Aug. 6.
Co-defendant Sasha Marie Olsen, 19, pleaded guilty to the same crime and was sentenced in May to 18 months in prison, but the sentence was stayed for five years of probation, including the condition that Olsen not come within one block of the center.
In admitting to the crime, Zellner told the court that she put paper in the sprinkler system and Olsen started the fire.
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Two elevators had to be shut down when a shaft flooded because of the sprinkler tampering.
According to the criminal complaint: Duluth firefighters responded to the Holiday Center at 6:43 p.m. on Feb. 7 and found a sprinkler discharging water in the women's bathroom off the lobby on the first floor.
Black soot stains were seen on the ceiling above the sprinkler head, the only indication of fire in the room. It appeared someone had attached something flammable to the sprinkler head and lit it on fire. The heat from the fire then set off the sprinkler head and flooded the area.
A police officer and a security officer reviewed video surveillance taken in the center. The complaint states that police and Holiday Center staff recognized Olsen, who was seen going into the women's bathroom with a woman about 6:31 p.m. When interviewed by police, Olsen initially denied setting the fire and implicated Zellner.
Olsen indicated that Zellner took a garbage can from the bathroom and was able to stand on it and wrap a paper towel around the sprinkler head and light it on fire. Zellner told police that she was in the women's bathroom, but it was Olsen who started the fire.
Zellner told Duluth police Arson Investigator Todd Kuusisto that Olsen wanted to set the sprinkler system off. She said Olsen held an open flame from her lighter up to the sprinkler head on the ceiling but Olsen was too short and couldn't reach it. Olsen then tried lifting Zellner up to hold the flame to the sprinkler head, but that didn't work. Zellner then said Olsen pulled a garbage can over and stood on top of it. She said she gave Olsen the paper towels and Olsen wrapped them around the sprinkler head and lit them with her lighter.
A third woman witness was in the bathroom fixing her makeup and said she saw Olsen holding a lighter to the sprinkler head.
