Arrest Made After Jail Inmate's Home Set On Fire

Monday, August 19, 2019 at 8:21 AM

By Mike Perleberg @mikedup84

Michael Plummer was allegedly attempting to intimidate people who knew the whereabouts of a wanted associate.

Michael Plummer. Photo by Dearborn County Sheriff's Office.

(Dearborn County, Ind.) - Michael Plummer is accused of setting fire to the home of another man who was in jail.

Plummer, of Moores Hill, is now in jail, too. The 52-year-old was charged with Arson (level 4 felony) and Intimidation (level 6 felony) on August 15.

Eagle Country 99.3 told you last week that Moores Hill resident James Haas was arrested on allegations that he fatally shot his girlfriend’s dog in his living room back in July. As Haas was sitting behind bars on August 13, his home on Hogan Creek Road burned down, according to a court affidavit.

It didn’t take long for fire investigators to determine the fire which destroyed Haas’ home had been set deliberately. They determined gasoline was used as an accelerant. A trail of charred grass in the yard was determined to be the path where a person walked away from the home while pouring gasoline and then set the fire.

Members of a county road crew noticed smoke in the area and reported the structure fire. A member of that road crew who went to the fire scene reported seeing Plummer drive past in a red pickup truck on the dead end road.

Dearborn County Sheriff’s investigators informed Haas, who was in jail, that his home had burned. Haas told detectives that he suspected Plummer and Ralph John Berry were responsible for his house catching fire.

Plummer allegedly targeted Haas because he believed he had information on criminal activity Plummer was involved in. Plummer and Ralph John Berry had allegedly stolen Haas’ red pickup truck on August 9 as Berry was on the run from a bail bondsman and the law for skipping out on his bond.

Haas told detectives that Plummer and Berry had threatened to kill him if he called police.

Investigators found Plummer at the home of Kathy Berry on North Hogan Road on August 13. Berry’s Honda CRV was seized as evidence because police observed inside it a five gallon gasoline canister, a one gallon gasoline canister, and a soiled men’s t-shirt with burn marks on it. A sword with a Nazi swastika emblem on it belonging to Haas was also in the vehicle.

The following day, the sheriff’s office received a call from James Haas’ brother. He reported that he had received a text message from Plummer stating “Your going to cry at the funeral.” Plummer had also texted “I will after I burn it… Cause you aint getting anymore from of my **** like jimmy has he owns me a few thousand; And I collect one or the other.”

Plummer was taken into custody on August 14 at Berry’s home. Berry told police that Plummer confessed to burning down Haas’ home.

Police noted in the affidavit that Ralph John Berry was taken into custody in Kentucky on an active warrant out of Dearborn County.