By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DEERFIELD TWP. - A 21-year-old charged with lighting a string of trash bin fires in the Landen area Wednesday morning had no idea the fires had destroyed a small strip center, a detective said Thursday.

Warren County Detective Ron Robertson said Derric L. Urton and a friend, who has yet to be charged, were "drunk and stupid" and had just been involved in an altercation at a Landen tavern before they allegedly lit fires on their long walk home on U.S. 22/Ohio 3.

The two slept in the next morning, then played video games at Urton's Steeplechase Lane apartment, oblivious to news reports about the destruction at the Morand Building on Columbia Road, police said.

Then came an officer's knock on the door. By 10 p.m., Urton was charged with one count of aggravated arson and three more felony counts of arson. Charges are being considered against the 21-year-old friend, Robertson said.

Urton made an appearance at an arraignment hearing Thursday afternoon in Mason Municipal Court. He did not enter a plea to the charges and is scheduled to return Tuesday for a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to support the charges against him. Meanwhile, he is being held at the Warren County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. He said little at Thursday's hearing, except that he wanted a lawyer and couldn't afford to pay the bail.

Robertson said the investigation focused on Urton after a resident at the Carriage Square apartment complex where one of the trash fires was set said he saw two men - one with a ball cap worn backwards - standing in the woods at the edge of the complex.

Detectives also began combing the local bars on a hunch that the suspects may have been drinking. That led them to information that Urton and the other man were involved in an altercation outside Brian's Bar & Grill in Landen Square Shopping Center, where another fire was set behind the building, Robertson said.

The Morand Building, which housed a dog groomer, gift shop and orthodontist's office, ignited about 4:20 a.m. Wednesday when an arson fire in trash cans at the rear of the building spread to the structure, fire officials said.

Damage was set at $500,000, and the building's owner, Township Trustee William Morand, said earlier that he was unsure whether he would rebuild. He could not be reached Thursday.

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com