Crime & Safety
Foster Parents Sued for 2011 Fire Damages Caused by Boy, 12
The American Family Mutual Insurance Co. wants the couple to pay the $56,406 it paid to the family whose garage was set on fire by the couple's foster child.
The foster parents of a boy who set fire to their garage on Christmas Day 2011 are being sued for the money it paid to the couple for the damages incurred, according to a lawsuit filed in Will County Circuit Court.
The American Family Mutual Insurance Co. wants the couple who were caring for the boy to pay the $56,406 it paid to the family who lost two vehicles in the fire as well as part of their home in the 16000 block of Hazelwood Drive, a story in the Joliet Herald News said.
The suit alleges that the couple, whose names were not disclosed, left the 12-year-old boy unattended and gave him access to the “dangerous instrumentalities” that allowed him to set the fire.
Also named as defendants are two employees of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which placed the child in the the couple's care, the Herald News story said.
In all, the boy is alleged to have caused five fires resulting in about $200,000 in damage, Plainfield police said. After the Christmas Day blaze, he set fire to another townhouse and several cars on New Year's Eve and Jan. 8, 2012, as well as several cases a vandalism and burglary in February 2012, police records show.
At the time of his arrest, his foster parents refused to come to the police station. He was charged with three counts of arson, three counts of burglary to a motor vehicle and two counts of criminal damage to property.
** Editor's note: An earlier version of this story provided incorrect information about the foster parents' identity.
The suit alleges that the couple, whose names were not disclosed, left the 12-year-old boy unattended and gave him access to the “dangerous instrumentalities” that allowed him to set the fire.
Also named as defendants are two employees of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which placed the child in the the couple's care, the Herald News story said.
In all, the boy is alleged to have caused five fires resulting in about $200,000 in damage, Plainfield police said. After the Christmas Day blaze, he set fire to another townhouse and several cars on New Year's Eve and Jan. 8, 2012, as well as several cases a vandalism and burglary in February 2012, police records show.
At the time of his arrest, his foster parents refused to come to the police station. He was charged with three counts of arson, three counts of burglary to a motor vehicle and two counts of criminal damage to property.
** Editor's note: An earlier version of this story provided incorrect information about the foster parents' identity.
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