{"id":38664,"date":"2026-07-21T05:18:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=38664"},"modified":"2026-07-19T09:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:48:39","slug":"moorhead-man-charged-after-apartment-fire-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/moorhead-man-charged-after-apartment-fire-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Moorhead Man Charged After Apartment Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Moorhead Man Charged After Apartment Fire<\/h2>\n

Moorhead<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Moorhead man faces a felony arson charge after an apartment fire on June 28.<\/p>\n

Maurice Garrett has been charged with first-degree arson involving a dwelling. The charge was filed in Clay County District Court.<\/p>\n

Garrett is accused of intentionally starting a fire inside his Moorhead apartment. The allegations come from a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

A criminal charge is only an accusation. Garrett is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

Fire Alarm Brings Emergency Response<\/h2>\n

Firefighters were called to the apartment building around 5:13 a.m. A fire alarm had been activated inside the building.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the caller said he had set his apartment on fire. Authorities later identified the caller as Garrett.<\/p>\n

The building\u2019s sprinkler system activated before emergency crews arrived. The sprinklers caused significant water damage inside the apartment.<\/p>\n

Investigators found a refrigerator near the apartment entrance. The complaint says it appeared to block the doorway.<\/p>\n

Authorities also found a burned roll of toilet paper near a back wall. Fire damage was reported near the front door.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"MauriceMaurice Garrett<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Complaint Describes Alleged Statement<\/h2>\n

Garrett allegedly told authorities that he started the fire on purpose. He reportedly said he used the toilet paper roll.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Garrett claimed he was trying to scare an armed man. Garrett said the person remained inside his apartment.<\/p>\n

However, authorities searched the apartment and found no other person inside.<\/p>\n

Another resident reported seeing Garrett leave the apartment before authorities arrived. The resident said Garrett was carrying knives.<\/p>\n

First-Degree Arson Charge<\/h2>\n

Garrett is charged under Minnesota\u2019s first-degree arson law. The law covers intentional fire damage to a dwelling.<\/p>\n

Readers can review the law through the Minnesota Legislature\u2019s statute website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. It also allows a fine of up to $20,000.<\/p>\n

The case is filed in Minnesota\u2019s Seventh Judicial District. Court information is available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No conviction has been entered in the case. Future hearings will determine how the charge proceeds.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole, reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Moorhead man faces first-degree arson charges after an apartment fire activated sprinklers and caused damage, court records allege.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[12122,7412,838,20023,955,20024,762,786],"class_list":["post-38664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-apartment-fire","tag-clay-county-court","tag-first-degree-arson","tag-maurice-garrett","tag-minnesota-crime-news","tag-moorhead-arson-charge","tag-moorhead-police","tag-trf-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38666,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38664\/revisions\/38666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}