Illinois man charged with arson after allegedly setting home ablaze on Thanksgiving

An Illinois man was arrested after he allegedly intentionally set his family's home on fire following a heated argument on Thanksgiving according to police Erik J Crump was charged with aggravated arson and residential arson in connection with the affair The Lake County Sheriff s Office revealed deputies were called around p m Thursday to a home in the block of North Lone Oak Road in Beach Park for a communicated argument Family members explained deputies they were frustrated because Crump had been antagonizing others in the home though officers commented no crime had occurred WHO IS JONATHAN RINDERKNECHT PALISADES FIRE SUSPECT ACCUSED OF SPARKING DEADLY BLAZE Deputies deescalated the situation and Crump agreed to separate from the family for the rest of the evening About an hour later deputies returned to the home for reports of a fire When firefighters arrived they saw a man matching Crump s description standing near the roadway armed with a knife before he fled Deputies set up a perimeter and a sheriff s K tracked his scent to a dead-end indicating he may have left in a car Crump was later located at a storage facility in the block of North Lewis Avenue and taken into custody without case Detectives determined that Crump had been described after the earlier argument that he would be kicked out of the home He allegedly returned used an accelerant to ignite his bedroom and fled as the fire spread causing major damage The family then noticed smoke filling the home and straightaway evacuated It s nothing short of a blessing that nobody was injured or killed in this senseless act Sheriff John D Idleburg mentioned in a report While families across Lake County were sitting down for Thanksgiving our dispatchers were answering the call and our deputies were out responding to them PALISADES FIRE SUSPECT HIT WITH NEW CHARGES IN GRAND JURY INDICTMENT Our organization along with our fire amenity partners responded within minutes secured the area helped ensure the fire was extinguished and took this individual into custody before anyone else was put at liability he continued I am incredibly proud of their professionalism and their commitment to keeping our locality safe every hour of every day The Lake County State s Attorney s Office after reviewing the circumstances of the episode approved the aggravated arson and residential arson charges