Milwaukee apartment fire; woman charged in unrelated incident

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2 days ago

The Brief
Lakescha Warley has been charged with fire damage inside a Milwaukee apartment building that occurred on Mother's Day.
Warley was charged with arson of property and criminal damage.
She has not been charged in connection with the fatal fire at the same apartment building that occurred later in the morning.
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee woman has been charged with fire damage inside a Milwaukee apartment building that later became the site of a fatal fire that occurred on Mother's Day.
What we know
The accused is 45-year-old Lakescha Warley. She has been charged with the following:
Arson of property other than building
Criminal damage to property (less than $2,500 damage)
According to the criminal complaint, the fire damage was not connected or related to any other fire damage in other portions of the apartment complex, and was deemed an isolated fire location and damage area.
The backstory
It happened at Highland Court Apartments near 27th and Highland on Sunday, May 11.
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During a walk-through of the apartment building, the apartment manager pointed out a damaged key fob, which controlled the entrance from the building to the parking structure. According to the criminal complaint, the key fob had been pulled off the wall, but still had power and was beeping. The bottom of the unit was melted from heat damage, consistent with someone applying fire or heat to this unit. The damage appeared consistent with a direct open flame source being applied to the key fob. There was also a burn mark above the key fob reader consistent with an open flame being applied to this key fob. The cover to the key fob was on the floor, and also appeared to have fire damage.
After reviewing security video footage from the hallway, officials noted a woman – ultimately deemed to be Warley – enter the hallway around 5:30 a.m. She is not a resident of the building and does not have permission to be in the building, the complaint indicates.
Detectives deduced that Warley could be seen setting fire damage to the key fob with an open flame and then leaving.
Dig deeper
According to the criminal complaint, Warley returned just after 6:30 a.m. and appears to be kicking at the wall at the area of the key fob. From security footage, detectives figured that it was consistent with Warley using an open flame to the cover on the first trip, coming back and kicking the cover off, and then again putting an open flame to the key fob, explaining why there is flame damage both to the outside and inside the key fob.
Afterward, Warley admitted to law enforcement that she was the person in the hallway near the key fob. She told detectives she was using a lighter to smoke drugs in the corner, but did not explain how the fire damage ended up on both the inside electrical portion and the outside cover of the key fob, which was consistent with intentionally damaging the key fob exterior and interior with an open flame.
Again, Warley has not been charged in connection with the fatal fire at the same apartment building that occurred later in the morning.
What they're saying
The alderman for the district, Bob Bauman, said there may be more to the story.
"I don't think this is the end of the story. This is maybe the middle of the story in terms of what will ultimately be revealed about the cause of the fire," Bauman said. "I suspect in the next couple of days and weeks we may hear more information."
Weeks after the fire, Deborah Meyer has finally been able to get a look inside.
"It's been a very emotional process. It was hard," Meyer said. "The building is dark. It's hard to breathe. It's like it's not even our apartment. It's like a haunted house."
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Meyer is being patient, looking for a little bit of closure.
"We do want answers and so do the building people, but we want them to be the correct answers," Meyer said. "We all want to know what happened. We all want the person who is responsible to be held accountable."
What's next
She is due back in court on Wednesday, June 11, for a preliminary hearing. Her bond has been set at $3,000.
If convicted, Warley faces up to more than four years in prison and approximately $20,000 in fines.
The Source
Information in this report is from the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.