Man Lit Porch on Fire When Ex Refused to Give Him $10: Cops

New Haven police have arrested a man accused of setting his ex-wife’s porch on fire because she refused to give him $10 to get to New York, police said.

The call came in as a house fire at 466 Elm Street just after midnight.

As Officer Ron Ferrante responded to a house fire, he was told that there had been a complaint of an unwanted person at the same address earlier.

While the fire department was putting out the fire, he spoke with the resident who said her ex-husband had come by asking for money to get to New York.

She said she wouldn't give him any and asked him to leave, police said.

He would not leave, so she called police. When she went outside to wait for police, she found the porch on fire and called 911 to report it before getting her mother out of the house, police said.

The ex, Jimmy Singleton, repeatedly called the woman during her interview with Ferrante.

During one of his calls, Singleton admitted setting the fire and said that "it's just going to get worse" if his ex-wife didn't help him, the woman told police.

Authorities traced the number to Yale-New Haven Hospital and learned that Singleton, who had no cell phone, would often use the phones at the emergency department to make his calls.

Officer John Barbetti went to the hospital and detained Singleton, who was charged with arson in the first degree, reckless burning, reckless endangerment in the first degree, criminal mischief in the first degree and criminal trespass in the first degree.
 

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