Firebug Wanted For Wilmington Blaze: Cops

WILMINGTON, IL — A Wilmington man torched an apartment building on North Kankakee Street last month, police said.

Andrew Sterling, 22, faces charges of arson and aggravated arson in connection with the Aug. 2 blaze.

Firefighters from 10 different departments battled the blaze, police said.

Wilmington police Detective Karl Jurgens reportedly linked Sterling to the fire.

Sterling was at the fire and “acting suspiciously,” police said. He also “alerted upstairs residents of the fire and one resident, 14 years of age, had to be transported to the hospital for smoke inhalation.”

“Sterling later admitted to causing the blaze by lighting a cardboard box on fire in one of the units,” police said.

Sterling remains at large. The warrant for his arrest carries a $100,000 bond.

In January 2015, Sterling was charged with disorderly conduct for making a bomb threat at Wilmington High School and drawing a “depiction of a stick figure person holding a gun and shooting another stick figure person” in a bathroom stall.

Sterling pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced to court supervision.