Later that same day, Brown County deputies answered a complaint about a man dumping items in a riverbed. The witness took down the license plate and described the man’s car as being packed full of unknown items. The plate came back to a car registered to Smith’s wife.
The officer asked Smith about the fire at Lok-Safe earlier that day. Smith said his wife rented a storage unit there, and he just visited it around 1 o’clock that morning to work on some speakers. He denied any involvement in the fire. He said he spent about 30 minutes looking for items people had discarded outside their units. He noted that one unit’s door was open, about a foot off the ground, and he peeked inside. Investigators found that curious since Smith has medical problems and sometimes walks with a cane and would have a difficult time getting flat to the ground and up again. Police also think being that close, he should have seen or heard anything suspicious.
Then investigators looked into his history. In 2014 and 2020, he was one of several apartment tenants whose storage unit locks were damaged in burglaries or attempted burglaries. In 2020, his car caught fire outside his home; no suspect was identified, and Smith blamed faulty wiring in an electric window. Also last year, Smith was the first caller to report a brush fire involving discarded tires.
Investigators also learned Smith was convicted of arson in Ohio in 1989, with court records showing he confessed to two arsons.
Deputies photographed those items discarded in the riverbed. One of the people who rented a unit at Lok-Safe later identified some of that property as theirs and said it was in their storage unit. That renter also said some items he expected to find, because they’re metal, like his bicycle, weren’t in the ruins.
Some of his victims addressed those who were attending the hearing Wednesday afternoon.
“He’s caused immeasurable damage to myself and everybody else who lost stuff there,” said one victim.
Police add Smith reported himself as a victim of burglaries a handful of times, including once at his home last year, but later admitted to fabricating that story.
“He has been linked, since year 1988, to 17 total arsons. Since 2017, he’s been linked to 12 other arsons in the Green Bay, Brown County area,” said Petras on Wednesday.
At the end of April, fire investigators confirmed the fire at Lok-Safe was arson, determining that fire was set to a pile of cardboard boxes stacked three feet high inside one of the units.
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