A PAID-ON-CALL FIREFIGHTER FROM THE FOREST LAKE Fire Department in Minnesota was charged yesterday (Wednesday) with wildfire arson for setting a fire that burned 2 sq. miles of grassland. The blaze was set at the Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge north of Minneapolis on Monday.
John David Berken, 40, was observed by witnesses in a car behind his as he shot fireworks out of his car window and he traveled along a road through the refuge. When they saw one of them start the brush burning they called 9-1-1 and reported both the fire and Berken’s license plate number. The witnesses attempted to follow him from there, but had to stop when Berken reached a speed of 100 mph while trying to elude them.
John Berken
Sheriff’s deputies identified him from the license plate and almost immediately arrested him at the fire scene as he was helping the FD put the fire out. Investigators secured a warrant and found fireworks in Berken’s home and an explosives-sniffing dog detected residue on Berken’s car window and his fire gloves.
Berken has a checkered past and has served prison time for felonies. He is already known to the community as a former owner of a Ford dealership that he threw into bankruptcy after running up nearly $4 million in fraudulent charges on his American Express card. One of his imprisonments came after calling in a bomb threat to a local airport control tower.
He is being held on $50,000 bond and is facing up to 27 months in jail on the federal charges.
KSTP-TV ran this video report on Tuesday before the charges were officially filed:
