Elgin man charged in Dundee Township arson
A 27-year-old Elgin man has been charged with setting a fire that caused an estimated $300,000 damage to a ranch home under renovations in Dundee Township.
Phokam Prisayana, of the 400 block of Chicago Street, was detained by a neighbor shortly after the fire began at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the house on the 35W600 block of Tollgate Road in Dundee Township near I-90, authorities said.
“That doesn't happen very often,” Kane County Sheriff Department Lt. Pat Gengler said of a suspect being caught at the scene by a neighbor.
Prisayana is accused of using “an accelerant” to set a fire inside the home, which was vacant and being renovated, Gengler said, adding that he could not comment on the other specifics of Prisayana's arrest.
Prisayana is charged with arson, residential arson, criminal damage to property and criminal damage to property by use of fire or explosive.
Rutland-Dundee Township Fire Protection District Chief Richard Thomas said Monday that the home is uninhabitable. “It was fully engulfed on arrival of the first companies,” he said. “Luckily, police were able to apprehend the person who was on the grounds.”
No one was injured in the fire,
Prisayana is being held on $75,000 bail, meaning he must post $7,500 to be released while the charges are pending.
He is next due in court on Wednesday and face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the most severe charges.
Prisayana's only previous offense in Kane County for driving without insurance in Batavia in October 2010, records show.