PIKEVILLE, Tenn. — A man accused of setting fire to state park land and private property just over a year ago faces trial today on arson charges in Bledsoe County Circuit Court.
Lake Thomas Angel, 50, was spotted and photographed from a state forestry airplane as he set fires at Fall Creek Falls State Resort Park, prosecutor Will Dunn said.
“We have photographic evidence the jury will find very helpful in their decision,” Mr. Dunn said.
Mr. Dunn said the state will call six to seven witnesses in the trial.
Thomas Austin, Mr. Angel’s attorney, declined comment Monday.
Mr. Angel was charged Feb. 27, 2007, after airborne state forestry observer Beth Elliott saw the fires being set. She contacted law enforcement and kept tabs on Mr. Angel’s truck as officers and park rangers converged, authorities said.
State park rangers, forestry officials and sheriff’s deputies corralled him on Bledsoe County’s Old C.C. Road. Mr. Angel was arrested after his truck stalled when he tried to cross Cane Creek in the south end of Fall Creek Falls park.
Fires that were deliberately set burned more than 40 acres of state park land, officials said.
Mr. Angel denied setting the fires and told officers he was squirrel hunting. Investigators said they found Mr. Angel with a lighter and a squirrel.
About 90 acres of land owned by European-owned Cane Tennessee Inc. was damaged, overseer Ronald Swafford said.
He said Cane Tennessee has 6,500 acres that border about eight to 10 miles of Fall Creek Falls land, and that arson in the secluded area is “an ongoing problem.”
Mr. Swafford said he has tallied three more arson fires since Mr. Angel’s arrest, but he doesn’t understand why people set fire to the forest. He hopes the trial will draw more attention to forest arson.
“They can drive along a county road and set them right out the window,” he said.
Jury selection will begin at 9 a.m. CDT, court officials said.
Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee and previously covered North Georgia education. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties and later adding Marion, Grundy and other counties in the northern and western edges of the region to his coverage. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. Benton ...
