2 brothers charged in 2013 Eagan Town Hall fire

EAGAN, Minn. (KMSP) - Two brothers from Prior Lake, Minn. are facing arson charges for allegedly setting fire to the historic Eagan Town Hall on September 8, 2013.

Investigators connected 52-year-old Michael Damron, also known as Wade Arvidson, and his brother, 50-year-old Wynn Arvidson , to the fire after finding a piece of toilet paper with Arvidson’s  DNA at the scene, according to the criminal complaint. Video surveillance and tapped telephone conversations also aided the more than two-year long investigation.

Damron had reportedly been upset with Eagan officials over a 2006 criminal investigation of a series of thefts in the cities of Eagan, Inver Grove Heights, Shakopee, Savage, Burnsville, Lakeville, Elko and Prior Lake and Le Sueur County, according to the allegations. 

The Damron/Arvidson family sued the cities of Eagan and Inver Grove Heights for $12 million because they felt the police had taken items belonging to them in the course of their investigation in 2006.

Damron also has a history of writing threatening letters to various officials.

Both brothers have been charged with one count of felony arson in the first degree. 

The nearly $340,000 in repairs on the damaged town hall are nearing completion. The town hall will likely reopen in the spring of 2016. 

“This arson of one of our city’s historic landmarks was a significant crime in our community and we are pleased that these criminal charges have now been filed,” Eagan police Chief Jim McDonald said in a statement.