GREEN BAY, WI (WBAY) – Green Bay police are now calling Sunday night’s fire at the Ten O One Club downtown an act of arson, and the details surrounding the crime are disturbing.
An 18-year-old Green Bay man is facing five criminal charges after police say he lured four children under the age of 10 into the Ten O One Club, assaulted two of them, then started the building on fire.
Jesus Castilloveitia-Quinton made his first appearance in Brown County court Tuesday afternoon. He faces two counts of child abuse, arson, resisting an officer and bail jumping.
An emergency call came in for the former bar located at Main and Webster streets around 9 o’clock Sunday night. First responders found the building in flames.
A Green Bay police officer say Castilloveitia-Quinton and a couple of kids running from the scene. The officer and his K9 chased after them, suspecting one of them may have been responsible for the fire.
Using the police dog, he was able to take Castilloveitia-Quinton into custody.
Other officers tracked down the four children who ran from the scene. They said they knew Castilloveitia-Quinton from the neighborhood.
Castilloveitia-Quinton told police the abandoned apartment above the Ten O One Club was his “secret hideout,” which is why he brought the kids there. The kids say when they went to see his hideout, Castilloveitia-Quinton started hitting them and said he needed to light the place on fire to “send them to a better place.”
Police say when he was taken into custody he kept asking them if “the kids were OK.”
In court he appeared disoriented, unable to sit still, and saying out loud, “I need my meds.” His attorney requested a competency evaluation.
Police say a lot of people are going to be affected by what happened.
“This is a situation that is very traumatic not only for those kids but for the neighborhood around the Ten O One Club. That was a very old building, an icon in the downtown area, in which the individual decided to start on fire causing extensive damage, and we really just want the message to the community to be that we located Mr. Castilloveitia-Quinton and he’s going to be held responsible for his actions,” Capt. Kevin Warych, Green Bay Police Department, said.
The bar and restaurant was shut down at the time of the arson.