Wausau house fire at 10th and Cedar. Image courtesy: WAOW TV.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — A Wausau man accused of setting fire to a house on 10th Street appeared in court on Wednesday.
James Farrar waived his right to a preliminary hearing for one count of arson.
He returns to court for a review hearing on Friday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 24th. Farrar has yet to enter a plea to the charge.
Investigators believe he started fires in two different locations in the house- one on a mattress in a bedroom and another in the basement. Officers also say that he changed his story several times when asked where he was at the time of the blaze.
The arson charge against Farrar also carries a repeater modifier.
He’s being held on a $20,000 cash bond with several conditions including no contact with two victims identified in court records by their initials. That includes contact via phone, in writing, or by entering their residence or place of employment. Contact may be made through an attorney.
This isn’t Farrar’s first run-in with authorities. In December of 2017, he pulled a gun on two individuals in two weeks. One incident occurred in a Rib Mountain apartment and involved a relative, the other his 61-year-old neighbor.
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He was sentenced to three years of probation for that incident after entering a no contest plea in April of 2019.
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