Woman Tried Burning Down Wilmington Apartment Building: Prosecutors

WILMINGTON — The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office of Jim Glasgow has filed attempted aggravated arson and attempted residential arson charges against 49-year-old Kimberly Glista after tried to burn down an apartment building in Wilmington on Sunday, setting the fire inside the crawl space, the criminal complaint reads.

This marks the fourth time since August Glista finds herself in the Will County Jail. She has a pending felony of aggravated domestic battery in connection with allegations she struck a man in the face with a rock in Romeoville while she was underneath the bridge near the Citgo refinery.

According to the Christmas Eve petition to deny pretrial release for Glista, Will County prosecutors said the following events happened on Sunday in Wilmington:

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The man told authorities he went to watch a football game at a friend’s place. When he returned to his apartment, he saw smoke coming from the crawl space. He also heard Glista inside the crawl space. He went to the crawl space and saw debris and miscellaneous items on fire. The man said he helped Glista from the crawl space, and he grabbed a fire extinguisher, court files show.

The Wilmington man returned to the crawl space and put the fire out. The fire department sent firefighters to the scene, and police officers evacuated the residents of the apartment building.

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Wilmington police said they found Glista hiding inside the apartment closet. She was intoxicated, had dark ash on her hands, and smelled of smoke and vodka, prosecutors outlined for the judge. She had two lighters and the door handle-latch to the crawl space.

Glista was loaded into an ambulance and taken to St. Joe’s hospital, where she told a nurse she started the fire, prosecutors revealed. Meanwhile, Glista has her pending felony charge from Romeoville set for a hearing on Jan. 16 in Courtroom 503.

Will County’s jail records list Glista as a resident of Crest Hill.

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