Thursday: Secret cigarette blamed for $1 million Farmington fire

Kevin Leroy Kraus could have walked about 30 feet to step outside the American Legion in Farmington for a cigarette.

But on a bitterly cold night last February, police said, Kraus instead stole a secret smoke inside the building and dropped his cigarette down an air duct. The cigarette butt sparked a fire that caused nearly $1 million in damage and shut down the local gathering spot for eight months.

Now Kraus, 40, who couldn't be reached Thursday, could face a felony charge of negligent fire resulting in injury or property damage. Monica Jensen, a spokeswoman for the Dakota County attorney's office, said her office expects to submit charges against Kraus soon.

"I'm glad they're finally prosecuting," Legion manager Dawn Paget said. "It's been almost a year. For the longest time, we didn't think we'd have enough evidence."

That's what Farmington police thought, too.

DNA tests on cigarette butts found at the base of the vent didn't link them to Kraus, and security camera video wasn't quite clear enough for identification on its own.

But persistent detective work and a collection of witnesses who had seen or spoken to Kraus about the fire cracked the case, said Detective Sgt. Lee Hollatz of the Farmington police.

At the legion on Thursday, everyone who walked through the door got a friendly greeting and the bar stools filled up with regulars stopping by to watch a basketball game on TV, play poker and chat.

"It's kind of our home," said Terry Luitjens, who has been coming to the legion a couple times a week for more than 20 years.

He and many other regulars patronized the bowling alley nearby while waiting for the legion to reopen, but were eager to get back and resume holding omelet breakfasts and raising money for community projects.

Witnesses saw him smoking

Now they're hoping prosecutors can make their case against Kraus. Dropping a cigarette down a vent was "pure stupidity," said Luitjens.

According to the documents sent to the county attorney by Farmington police, a number of witnesses told police they saw Kraus sitting near the cold air return vent the night the fire started. One said she saw him place a lighted cigarette in the vent to hide it as he smoked, saying no one would catch him because the cold air return would prevent people from smelling the smoke.

The complaint says surveillance camera video shows Kraus leaving the bar just after 1 a.m. as smoke filled the building. Flames had begun to shoot out of the vent near his former seat.

In April, Paget said, Kraus approached her and apologized. According to the complaint, Kraus then told another witness that he was under investigation but that police could not prove the cigarette he put down the vent had started the fire.

'It's been a long battle'

The fire caused $940,655 in damage. The building wasn't a total loss, but its interior needed repair. Most of the 45 employees, who served 200 to 500 people each day, had to find other jobs.

"It's been a long battle," Paget said.