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BRIEF: Fire, toxic bombs: Kentucky man's attempts to kill bed bugs put him in jail, police say

Lexington Herald-Leader - 7/16/2018

July 16--A Wayne County man has been arrested and charged with arson after he allegedly lit a fire inside his apartment in his latest attempt to rid his mattress of bed bugs.

According to court records and police, Jackie Abbott, 59, intentionally set fire last week to the mattress in his downtown Monticello apartment on North Main Street. Four people occupied the adjacent apartments, and Abbott said he knew the that the fire could have hurt or killed another tenant.

In a previous attempt to get rid of the bugs, Abbott filled his apartment with toxic fumes after he set off too many bug bombs in his apartment, LEX18 reported. Abbott left his apartment and complained of shortness of breath in calls to emergency crews.

Four emergency responders had to be sent the hospital after inhaling too much of the fumes.

"They got outside. They started vomiting and so forth so we had to send extra crews to take care of them also," Sherwin Corder, the Wayne County Emergency Management Director, told the TV station in May.

Abbott was arrested in his apartment on Thursday, and is currently being held in the Wayne County Detention Center.

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(c)2018 the Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)

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