A 39-year-old man arrived at his girlfriend's north Minneapolis home with their 6-year-old son along and set the house on fire because she wasn't home, prosecutors allege.

Steven B. Edwards, of Minneapolis, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of first-degree arson in the fire on Aug. 15 that damaged the house in the 3000 block of Queen Avenue N. Edwards remains in Hennepin County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

According to the criminal complaint and fire investigators:

Edwards was "extremely intoxicated" when he arrived at the home with the boy in tow and found that the mother was not there.

Edwards piled "combustibles on top of the stove," turned on one of the burners and walked away as the home caught fire. Edwards then dropped the boy off at another home about five blocks away.

The boy told the woman's daughter that "Daddy lit the house on fire."

Earlier that evening, according to the mother, Edwards called her upset and threatening to "burn the house down" unless she came home.

Paul Walsh