Craig A. “Whitey” Fuller, 31, of rural Palestine has been charged with arson following the May 16 blaze that destroyed the Scott Long hog operation northeast of Palestine, near the community of Trimble.

That blaze caused more than $1 million in damage.

Fuller, who himself was a LaMotte Township firefighter, was arrested after being spotted leaving the scene.

At the time of his arrest, many in the community, including Fuller’s family, voiced everything from concern to fear about what would happen if he was released on bond.

Several days later, May 28, he was released on $10,000 cash bond.

That’s when area residents started holding their collective breaths.

Four days later, June 1, a residential fire at a vacant home for sale, located two miles southwest of Palestine, was destroyed by fire.

Sources indicate the house has been the former residence of one of Fuller’s relatives.

Official sources say that Fuller would have known about the home and that it was vacant.

Fuller was arrested again two days later, on June 3, and charged with one count of Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol, after family members say he rolled his pickup truck.

Fuller bonded out of jail that night with $100 cash.

Still on edge two days later, social media sites lit up the night of June 5 when word got out that there had been an explosion at an oil tank battery near Flat Rock.

Witnesses say the explosion could be seen and heard up to two miles away in Flat Rock.

Authorities say the force of the explosion was so great that it blew the top off one of the tanks and threw it into a nearby field.

Sources indicate the fire had been started in a machine shed located near one of the tanks.

As firefighhters from both LaMotte and Flat Rock fire protection districts arrived on scene along with authorities, a pickup truck was spotted off of the shoulder of the road.

Reports indicate that it appeared the driver had attempted to pull out of an access road and failed to negotiate the turn properly, becoming stuck.

Upon investigation, authorities say they found Craig Fuller in the cab of the truck.

He had suffered a broken leg sources indicate he sustained as he was making his getaway after setting the fire in the machine shed.

Fuller and an unnamed Honey Creek firefighter were transported from the scene to Crawford Memorial Hospital for treatment of their injuries.

Reports indicate that Fuller was later taken by helicopter to an undisclosed hospital to be treated for his injuries which, upon further examination, were more severe than originally believed.

Some speculate he suffered burns from the explosion.

There is little doubt the tank battery fire was arson as authorities found an accelerant had been used to ignite the blaze and those same authorities say they are convinced that it was Fuller who set it.

Authorities say they have asked Crawford County State’s Attorney Matthew Hartrich to charge Fuller with the tank battery fire.

A spokesperson for Hartrich’s office said the prosecutor is reviewing the case and could make a decision any day.

In addition to the hog barn, residence southwest of Palestine and tank battery, Fuller is being investigated for possible involvement in nearly a dozen other suspicious fires, including one on Christmas Day that destroyed the First Methodist Church in Robinson.

Stifle, a well-known local thug and drug convict who’s been allowed to run amok for years, is accused of taking his delinquent step-daughter to a fight with another girl and then participating by nearly killing the other girl by kicking her in the head.

In an incident that occurred September 7, 2012, the 911 call said that 20-year-old Harley Johnson was “flopping on the road” and responders were told, “you need to step it up!”

Authorities say that Johnson had gotten into some kind of disagreement with Stifle’s step-daughter Chelsea Lomas, age 17, on that date.

Stifle then drove Ms. Lomas to where Johnson was at East Kentucky St., Oblong, so she could physically fight with the girl.

During the fight, Johnson is said to have been knocked down in the middle of the road and sources say the 35-year-old, grungy-looking, overweight (6’6”, 410 pounds) Jody Stifle, wearing heavy boots, walked over and kicked Johnson in the side of the head so hard that EMTs called to the scene believed they were responding to someone having a seizure.

While he was sitting in jail, during a telephone conversation he knew was being recorded, Stifle allegedly threatened to kill police officer Chad Pusey, who arrested him.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Stifle is accused of saying. “I’m gonna hurt him.”

Due to a conflict with newly-elected Crawford County state’s attorney Matt Hartrich (he had performed duties as Stifle’s public defender in past cases) the embarrassment of southern Illinois, David “Rollover” Rands, swooped into town and, in an effort to clear some of the back-log of cases in the county, decided this would be a good one to simply dismiss.

Rarely do elected officials seem to listen to the electorate, but word was sent from the citizens of Crawford County and heard in the appellate prosecutor’s office in Springfield that this was wholly unacceptable.

The answer sent back is in the form of one of the most hard-nosed prosecutors Disclosure has witnessed in the courtroom as of late, Michael Vujovich.

On May 22, Vujovich penned his name to the re-filed charges, including Aggravated Battery for the harm Stifle allegedly did to Johnson, Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor for taking little Chelsea to a fight and two counts of Harassment of a Witness for threatening the life of officer Pusey.

Stifle had just been released from serving time in DOC on a drug conviction and was transported to the Crawford County Jail, where he was placed back in a cage on the above charges.

A preliminary hearing had been scheduled in the case for June 17 at 9:30 a.m.

Authorities say on or about May 13, Richard Anthony Churchwell, 29, of RR 2 Box 112, Lawrenceville, was “seen by officers riding an ATV on a roadway, then ran off the roadway and parked the ATV next to a house and hid from officers.”

When officers made contact with Churchwell he “had red watery eyes, slow slurred speech and did a poor performance on his field sobriety test.”

Churchwell was said by police to have been under the influence of a combination of drugs to a degree that rendered him incapable of safely driving at a time he did not possess a driver’s license, permit, judicial driving permit or monitoring device driving permit.

Authorities found in his possession not more than 2.5 grams of a substance containing cannabis and a small brown pipe with the intent to use that pipe in inhaling cannabis into his body.

A cash bond was set in the amount of $2,500.

In July 2003 Churchwell was charged with Mob Action/Force/2+.

The mob action charge was amended to Disorderly Conduct, which he pled guilty to in October 2003 and was sentenced to four days in jail, six months probation and ordered to pay $1,538 in fines and fees.

He was charged again in January 2012 with Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance (prescription medication).

He was found guilty in August 2012 and was sentenced to 24 months probation, 30 hours public service and ordered to pay a total of $3,180 in fines and fees of which he still owes $1,780.

Despite still being on probation from the dope charge, Churchwell was released on a recognizance bond May 17.

According to police, a now-homeless Robinson man, formerly living at 602 W. Main Apt. 3, Robinson, has been charged with being a sex offender Unlawfully Loitering Within a School Zone.

Police say on May 16, Harry W. Oliver, 34, of Robinson, a child sex offender, knowingly loitered within  500 feet of the real property comprising Washington Elementary School while persons under the age of 18 years were present in the building and on school grounds.

Oliver was convicted May 1 of this year of Theft more than $500 but less than $10,000 and was sentenced to 12 months probation and ordered to pay $772 in fines of which he has not paid.

A cash bond has been set in the amount of $2,000 in the loitering case.

Sexual abuse

Damien D. Wiseman, 22, 108 S. Washington St., Robinson, has been charged with Criminal Sexual Abuse.

Police say on April 15 and May 10, Wiseman committed an act of sexual penetration with a victim who was at least 13 years of age but under 17 years of age when the act was committed, when he placed his penis inside the vagina of the victim when Wiseman is at least five years older than the victim.

A cash bond has been set in the amount of $5,000.

If Wiseman is able to produce bail he is to have no contact with the victim.

At the May 14 meeting, the council discussed cleaning up a few properties around town including what is left of an apartment building at 707 S Cross Street that was damaged in a fire.

The property has a foot of water in the unsecured basement with appliances that were left behind as well as a bicycle and other kids’ toys that may be dangerous as well as tempting for kids to try to get to, according to Mayor Roger Pethtel.

The council also addressed the need to take care of an apartment building across from the Elks as well as the old Sanitarium.

“There is a lot of blood in one of the properties,” Pethtel advised, adding that he thought “maybe someone had butchered a deer or something inside.”

The council is going to look into grants that will help with the cost of cleaning up the deteriorating buildings, and determined to discuss this further at their next meeting.

The council unanimously voted to approve numerous updates and equipment for the city parks and the city pool. Approvals were for two new diving boards, three 12-foot umbrellas that can withstand 80 mph winds for the pool, an elevator for the batting cages, a concrete pad for the girls’ softball concession stand, and the purchase of safety mulch for the last playground at the park that had not been updated yet.

The city announced they would be taking bids for a roof replacement on the Washington Park clubhouse until June 14th.

Snakes and iguana found

The May 28 council meeting was a fast one and moved along quickly…but did have one unusual feature.

The council heard from a Robinson woman who voiced her concern over a discovery her husband had made in their shed (the location of which, in town, was not given).

“My husband went out to our shed, and when he opened the wooden doors there was nine snakes, not just regular snakes but the exotic kind,” said the woman, who never identified herself to the attendees or the media. She stated that besides the snakes (all boa constrictors and pythons), they were curled up with an iguana.

All of the animals were dead due to the lack of heat they needed during the winter.

The woman explained that most of the snakes were 4 to 5 feet long and showed with her hand a diameter of 4 to 5 inches wide, saying she was concerned that someone had released the snakes.

Alderman Bowman said “I saw this bag of snakes when it was brought in and these snakes were big enough that they could have killed a child,” as she visibly shuddered at the thought of the sight of the snakes.

Mayor Pethtel said they would look into this further and try to come up with rules to deal with and to better regulate exotic animals.

Christmas prep, other business

The President of the Beautification and Revitalization Committee, Robb Sparks, addressed the council in order to set dates of Nov.15-17 for the Christmas festival on the square in order to give organizations that plan to attend plenty of time to get the dates for the event set on their calendars.

Sparks added that they were hoping to have Clydesdales from Anheuser Busch in the parade on Nov 16th.

In other business:

The council voted on and approved the purchase of new motorized doors and a folding curtain/accordion door for the community center.

Heard about the new hotel in Robinson, which is approximately 90 percent complete and the parking lot should be finished with in the next 30 days.

The council set a date of June 11 for a public hearing for the annual appropriation ordinance, which is the next step in the city’s budget; to take place at the community center.

After receiving 57 applications and interviewing 3 people, the street department was approved unanimously to hire a new full-time employee that they had chosen to fill the opening.

Craig A. “Whitey” Fuller

Fuller faces one count of Arson in connection with the June 5, tank battery explosion near Flat Rock that injured both himself and a Honey Creek Firefighter.

This is his second Arson charge in a matter of as many weeks, his first coming after a May 16 fire at a hog operation near Trimble he was spotted driving away from.

Fuller was out of jail on $10,000 cash bond for the hog operation fire as well as a $100 cash bond after a DUI arrest from June 3.

Sources have told Disclosure that Fuller is a person of interest in nearly a dozen additional suspicious fires in the area, one at a church on Christmas.

Official sources say they have evidence currently being processed at the Illinois State Police Crime lab they believe will prove several of the fires were started by Fuller.

Sources close to the family say that Fuller is scheduled to undergo surgery tomorrow, June 11, to repair a broken disc in his back.

He was reported to have broken his leg in what appeared to be a get-away attempt at the tank battery fire.

Fuller is also being treated for burns, the severity of which have not been made public.

According to reports, Sheriff Todd Liston said that his department is receiving updates from hospital staff on Fuller’s condition.

Liston said that even if Fuller is confined to a bed, his department will remain in constant contact until he can be released from the hospital.

Liston also said that if Fuller is able to be taken into custody and remain in jail without medical attention he will be arrested.

That statement has lead some to wonder if Fuller will not be in custody as long as he “needs medical attention.”

That concern has not set well with many residents.

The cash bond in Fuller’s most recent charges has been set at $200,000.

Whitey Fuller in his favorite garb

Further, they believe that in this process of trying to start the blaze, Fuller tried to get away in his truck, but his truck got stuck (how his truck got stuck is unknown at this time) and he got thrown from it in the ensuing explosion of the tank battery.

There have been no charges stemming from last night’s Flat Rock incident, but sources close to the case are opining that they believe Fuller was drunk again and that it’s only a matter of time before he’s charged with yet another DUI.

But worse, the entire Crawford County community is now up in arms over the fact that Fuller is still on the loose and apparently wreaking havoc at every turn, now that he’s been booted from the fire department where he held a position so many years.

There is some sort of innate fear, within most normal humans, of an arsonist. Studies show that people trust a person who has been convicted of an arson less than they trust a person who has committed a murder…and that’s saying a lot. The fear of being consumed by fire is another one of those things the really causes most people to lose sleep.

And even though Whitey Fuller hasn’t been convicted, those who know him say that they believe he’s been a firebug for YEARS, this being what lead him to join the LaMotte Township fired department…so he could be in the thick of the action of his obsession, things that are burning.

Therefore there’s a distinct feeling of discomfort throughout Crawford County today, considering that citizens were questioning the fact that he was out on bond when it occurred last week.

Now, whether Crawford County residents will approach their prosecutor en masse, like they did the appellate prosecutor’s office when David “Rollover” Rands let Jody Stifle go (which is resulting in refiling of charges against that violent thug), remains to be seen

]]> http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/2013/06/06/arsonist-alleged-to-be-responsible-for-flat-rock-explosion/feed/ 0 http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/2013/06/05/tank-battery-exploded-in-flat-rock/ http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/2013/06/05/tank-battery-exploded-in-flat-rock/#comments Thu, 06 Jun 2013 03:41:09 +0000 Jade Wingard http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=23104 CRAWFORD CO.—We are hearing reports of a tank battery that has exploded east of Flat Rock tonight (Wednesday, June 5, 2013).

Preliminary reports are that a truck hit a tank battery at approximately 10:15 p.m., located east of Flat Rock at 16375 E. 400th Ave. and caused a “boom” that shook area houses. There may be one possible injury involved in the explosion and that there were a couple of passengers in the truck.

We will keep you updated as the information comes in.

UPDATE 11:00 p.m.: Air Evac has an estimated time of arriving on scene in 26 minutes and will be flying the injured driver presumably to Evansville. And another ambulance has been called for an injured firefighter that has been overheated. 

UPDATE at 11:21 p.m.: Requests for auxiliary officers for traffic control have been made and the roads are being blocked off at this time. The fire is still trying to be maintained at this time.

Craig “Whitey” Fuller

CRAWFORD CO.—An arson suspect released Tuesday, May 28, after posting $10,000 cash bond is back behind bars tonight, this according to family members.

Family sources have confirmed that Craig A. Fuller (also known as ‘Whitey’), 31, of rural Palestine was arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence after he allegedly rolled his truck near Heathsville at approximately 3 p.m. this afternoon (Tuesday, June 3).

Fuller has been charged with the Thursday, May 16 blaze that devastated a hog operation near Trimble owned by Scott Long.

He has also been named in at least three previous fires including one near Flat Rock and one near Heathsville.

Anonymous police sources indicate that Fuller is also a person of interest in a fire that took place Saturday, June 1, after he posted bond.

This is what remains of the latest fire
in which Craig Fuller is a person of interest.

A residential fire destroyed a vacant home that was for sale located at East 900^th Ave., approximately two miles southwest of Palestine.

The house is reportedly to have been a former home of Fuller’s relatives and approximately two miles from where he lives.

“The house was a total loss,” said one source. “There is nothing left.”

The only official word coming from authorities to the public about a suspect in Saturday’s fire has been that Fuller is out on bond.

Keep checking back for more information as it becomes available; and for the complete story including details you won’t read anywhere else but Disclosure, be sure to pick up a copy of the June/July 2013 print version at our many vendors, or get yourself an online membership and read the paper in full right here from the comfort of your computer with the very popular e-Edition.

Hey, at least she’s not missing any meals….

Mainstream media has so dumbed-down their “news” and has so fluffed-up the unimportant shit that people like Christine Alspach, shown here, don’t understand that any time a case goes to court, in whatever circuit in the state, we ALL pay for it, and so it becomes THE PUBLIC’S “business” because we’re funding the dumbasses who become criminally inclined over whatever, including a little pill-popping habit.

In other words, there isn’t anything “private” about a case that goes to court, gets a judgment, a sentence is issued, and now it’s time to collect fines and fees. Hopefully. She hasn’t paid anything yet.

Anyway, this phone call (click the link) is what we’re talking about.

How anyone who’s reached the age of 25 and already has a theft misdemeanor and a DUI on her record and can possibly think a FELONY is a “private” matter is indicative of either the dumbing down of media, the lack of education in our schools, or an increased level of fluoride….we’ll let you decide. And beware: People like this have been voting. Which explains a LOT.