The owner of the Jefferson Pizza Ranch, who is accused of arson, turned himself in to authorities today.
Jefferson Police Chief Mark Clouse tells Raccoon Valley Radio that 53 year-old Robert Duane Schultz Jr. turned himself in to the law enforcement center this morning, one day after they issued an arrest warrant. He faces felony charges for arson, criminal mischief and insurance fraud.
The alleged incident occurred just after midnight on January 27th. “Inside we noticed that there was definitely at least two points of origin or two different fires that had no way of communicating with each other. It was basically a picture perfect case to teach people how to investigate arson because everything just screamed arson.”
That’s Greene County Chief Deputy Jack Williams who is the certified arson investigator for the county.
Records obtained by Raccoon Valley Radio show that 2012-2016 Schultz took several advances for mortgage payments, owed $425,000 and was several months behind on those payments. His normal monthly payment is $3,000 and he was past due on his next payment for $12,000. As for an Alliant Energy utilities bill, a search warrant revealed that Schultz owed $3,690.30 and he also missed $11,397.21 in payments to the food distributor Martin Brothers.
Another piece of the ongoing investigation is looking at previous text messages from Schultz’s cellphone which Sergeant Heath Ennis says he was able to obtain through another search warrant.
“Cell phone companies do keep a record of text messages over a certain amount of days. So after I issue a search warrant, they (cell phone company) did provide me with the text messages for his (Schultz’s) cell phone. Obviously, we went through the messages and found somethings of interest.”
January 26th at 3:27pm, Schultz’s brother sent to him: “Hate to ask again do you have any cash I know it didn’t work last time I will try to make sure it happens this time thanks brother if not that’s fine.”
Schultz’s reply at 3:29pm: “Ya I will pick them up and leave some cash.”
January 26th at 6:13pm from Schultz’s brother: “Thanks Brother.”
January 27th at 1:11am from Schultz’s brother: “Go.”
When questioned about the text conversation, Schultz claimed his brother was going through a divorce and experiencing hard financial times so he needed money for gas. And as for the “Go” message, Schultz says it was a misspelling, that his brother meant that to be another word.
Schultz was booked and released from the Greene County Jail, after posting a $25,000 bail. His court date is scheduled for April 20th at 8:30am at the Greene County Courthouse.
Raccoon Valley Radio spoke with Schultz Tuesday. He says he spoke to his lawyer about the case and is denying all allegations and charges against him.
The investigation is ongoing at this time, with charges against additional suspects pending.
Raccoon Valley Radio will continue to bring you more information as it becomes official.