Weather hampers investigation into Lakemoor fire
LAKEMOOR – Cold temperatures prevented authorities from making much progress Monday investigating a house fire that the property owners say is suspicious in light of a court ruling Friday.
The remains of a 1,100-square-foot rental house in Fritzsche Industrial Park were frozen and covered with ice, so investigators were not able to bring in trained dogs or collect samples to test for accelerants.
“The entire building is either burned away or the rubble is in the basement, and it’s entirely frozen” said Mike Majercik, assistant chief of the McHenry Township Fire Protection District. “Until we get into there, we can’t really investigate the cause or the origin.”
Majercik estimated the scene would not thaw until temperatures rose later this week. Meanwhile, fire officials and Lakemoor police have been conducting interviews and meeting with others associated with the property, including representatives from a real estate company that has been managing the property while court proceedings were pending.
The home and the surrounding property has been the subject of a family legal dispute for more than 2 1/2 years. Patriarch Herbert Fritzsche, now 89, and his sons alleged that Fritzsche’s daughter, Chris Rock, and her boyfriend, Greg LaPlante, wrestled control of the industrial park away from Fritzsche through an improper lease.
Criminal charges surrounding those and similar allegations were filed in April 2007 against LaPlante and Rock, who court records show live together at 502 Amanda Ave.
LaPlante, 42, faces three counts of theft, the most serious of which is a Class 2 felony typically punishable by up to seven years in prison. Rock, 56, is facing two counts of financial exploitation of the elderly and a single count each of theft over $5,000 and conspiracy. If convicted of the most serious charge, Rock faces up to 15 years in prison.
Their cases are set for trial July 13.
But the Fritzsches had a major courtroom victory Friday, when McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell agreed with them that a lease Rock signed Aug. 1, 2006, to give LaPlante control of the 40-acre industrial park was invalid, court records show. Caldwell also declared void a note promising to pay the couple’s one-time business partner, Jerry Shaver, $450,000, court records show. Rock signed that note on Aug. 8, 2006.
The day after the court rulings, someone on Route 120 called authorities to report seeing an orange glow across Lily Lake. Fire officials arrived at 410 Amanda Avenue, which is southwest of the lake, just before 10 p.m. Saturday but the house already was engulfed in flames, Majercik said.
The house was occupied, but the tenant had left about 6 p.m. Friday, Majercik said.
There were no fire hydrants in the area, so firefighters shuttled in water using the single-lane driveway, Majercik said. They prevented a nearby tank of propane used to heat the house from exploding, but it took about 90 minutes to get the fire under control. The most recent tax bill for the home places its fair cash value at $129,591.
The timing between the fire and the court ruling against LaPlante and Rock has raised several suspicions in Rock’s brothers’ minds.
“It just seems like it’s escalating,” Scot Fritzsche, vice president of Fritzsche Industrial Park, said. “We don’t have any proof of that. Until they complete the investigation, it’s just suspicions.”
But the attorney who represented LaPlante in the civil case resolved Friday said connecting the court event to the fire was “ridiculous.” Attorney Jeanne Miller declined to elaborate or to discuss Friday’s ruling.
“It’s ridiculous that you would make any connection between that ruling and this case,” Miller said.