Homeless woman’s blankets set on fire as she slept, Kansas police say. Man arrested

A Kansas man has been arrested after allegedly setting fire to a homeless woman’s blankets as she slept, police said.

Security video from a store in Pittsburg, Kansas, appears to shows a man approach a homeless woman as she was sleeping and “intentionally set her blankets on fire,” the Pittsburg Police Department said in a news release.

Officers were first called to The Home Place, 616 N. Broadway, at around 5:30 p.m. Friday. The homeless woman had told the store’s owner that a fire during the previous night had left burn marks on tile flooring, police said.

“She thought a hand warming device she was using to stay warm had accidentally caught her blankets on fire” as she was sleeping in an alcove area in front of the store, police said. But the store’s owner reviewed surveillance video and told police that it captured images of the man as he allegedly set the fire to her blankets before walking away.

“The blankets burned for a moment before going out on their own,” police said.

Police officers and a Crawford County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrested a suspect in the case Saturday afternoon at a Pittsburg residence. He was identified by police as Richard Lee Dickerson, 60, of Pittsburg.

Dickerson was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, aggravated arson and criminal damage to property, police said. He remains in jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond, records show.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the police tip line at 620-231-8477.

Pittsburg is a southeast Kansas town of around 20,000 people about 150 miles east of Wichita.

This story was originally published February 4, 2019 at 7:04 PM.