CASPER — A 31-year-old Casper man accused of beating up his ex-boyfriend and trying to burn downthe other man's house, causing more than $200,000 worth of damage, pleaded not guilty to the crimes Monday.
Wilkinson stood beside his attorney Dylan Rosalez and listened as Judge Daniel L. Forgey read through the charges against him.
They include one count of first-degree arson, one count of third-degree arson and two counts of domestic assault.
Wilkinson told the judge he understands the charges against him and the potential penalties.
“Do you plead not guilty to those charges?” Forgey asked.
“Correct,” Wilkinson answered.
Rosalez did not ask for a reduction in his client’s $30,000 cash or surety bond.
Wilkinson’s case has been set for a trial beginning March 26.
Escaped With His Snake
Charges against Wilkinson go back to the report of a structure fire at 3:42 a.m. in the 2200 block of Sagewood Avenue on July 16.
A responding Casper Police Department officer found Wilkinson at the home with his pet snake.
“David stated he smoked a cigarette in the garage earlier and then went inside,” a police affidavit states. “David was in the living room when he noticed the residence getting cloudy.
"David grabbed his snake and tried to look for his two cats. David then called his mother … and exited the residence.”
When Wilkinson's parents arrived at the house, he told his mother, “I promise, I didn’t do anything,” the officer wrote in the affidavit.
The affidavit states Mills Fire Chief Wil Gay investigated the blaze and reported the fire started in the garage and moved into the kitchen area.
Wilkinson admitted to smoking in the garage and was unsure where he had put his cigarette out.
Wilkinson told the chief that the fire was where there was a bunch of clothes in the garage, the affidavit states.
Argument
During an interview with the 31-year-old homeowner — who was also Wilkinson’s ex-boyfriend — on the afternoon of July 16, the chief reported that the homeowner said he and Wilkinson had an argument.
The man arrived home at 2 a.m. and attempted to kick Wilkinson out of his house and put all of Wilkinson’s clothes in the garage.
He told the fire chief that Wilkinson went to the garage to smoke, came back and then made a comment along the lines of, “Well, have fun with that, your garage is on fire,” the affidavit states.
The homeowner found a fire burning in a metal clothes basket, put it out with a fire extinguisher and told Wilkinson to leave.
When Wilkinson continued to argue, the homeowner left the residence about 3:15 a.m. and then got a text message from Wilkinson that his house was on fire, the affidavit states.
An interview with the homeowner by a Casper police detective on July 21 confirmed that the homeowner had returned home, argued with Wilkinson, and dragged him from the bedroom onto the front porch while Wilkinson was naked.
Wilkinson then entered the garage using the code on the door, the affidavit states.
The homeowner put Wilkinson’s clothes in a basket as well as Wilkinson’s phone and took it to the garage and told him he needed to leave.
The man told the detective that he went back to bed and heard a banging on the door leading to the garage and opened it to find the laundry basket on fire.
Locked Out
He told police that’s when he realized that Wilkinson had locked him in the garage and out of the home.
The homeowner said he opened the door from the garage to his backyard to get airflow because it was smoky.
The homeowner left the house because he did not want to get into a physical confrontation with Wilkinson, the affidavit states. He went to his parents' home and went to bed.
He did not see a social media message from Wilkinson at 3:24 a.m. that his garage was on fire, the affidavit states.
Earlier Confrontation
Earlier in July, police were called to the house for a domestic abuse report.
The homeowner said Wilkinson had abused him, but then admitted he lied and said they had consensual sex.
Wilkinson in an interview on July 21 told the detective that the homeowner was his “ex-fiancé” and he did not know why they were still not together.
He said he had been drinking with a 31-year-old male friend who had been at the residence while the homeowner was at work. Wilkinson said he woke up to the smell of smoke and the fire alarm sounding.
Wilkinson said he then opened the main door to the garage and tried to put out the fire with an extinguisher from under the kitchen sink.
When stuff from the ceiling started to fall because of the fire, Wilkinson said he grabbed his snake and left. He also looked for his cats, but could not find them, the affidavit states.
When confronted with the homeowner’s story that he came home and argued with Wilkinson, Wilkinson changed his story and allegedly admitted to setting his clothes basket on fire with a lighter.
He then recanted that story, the affidavit states.
Wilkinson also admitted to getting in a fight with his boyfriend earlier in July and hitting him. The boyfriend held him down until police arrived, the affidavit states.
$200,000 Damage
The affidavit states that the garage and home suffered $200,000 worth of damage, according to an insurance fire investigator.
Meanwhile, on Oct. 11, officers were called at 7:39 a.m. to the 200 block of South Kenwood Street for the report of a suspicious person.
A woman reported a man in a ripped black shirt and shorts came onto her porch and rang her doorbell. He then opened her door, and she told him to sit on the porch as she called police, the affidavit states.
The affidavit states the man walked back to the house across the street.
As officers arrived at the scene, they heard a “bang” from inside and the 31-year-old who owned the home and who Wilkinson identified as his “ex-fiancé” in the arson case was seen by police walking out the door of a residence across the street with a bruised eye.
Another officer found Wilkinson in the home.
The boyfriend told police they had agreed it would be their last night in a romantic relationship, and that if their relationship continued, “Wilkinson would kill (the boyfriend) due to domestic violence,” the affidavit states.
The boyfriend said they drank alcohol and smoked marijuana until he blacked out. At 7 a.m., he felt pain on his face. He then armed himself with a kitchen knife to get away from Wilkinson.
“Wilkinson stated that (the boyfriend) became ‘scary,’ so Wilkinson beat him up,” the affidavit states.
Wilkinson told police that the boyfriend grabbed the knife after he beat him and had threatened him with it, the affidavit says.
The first-degree arson charge against Wilkinson carries a potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 or both. The third-degree arson charge carries a penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $5,000 or both.
The two domestic battery charges are punishable by up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
