Two eastern Iowa men will spend a total of 25 years in federal prison for an apartment fire that was started by a meth lab. Court documents show 47-year-old John Starks Senior and 25-year-old Casey Duhme were working together to cook meth in their Dubuque apartment in February of 2014 when things caught fire. They fled the apartment building, which is located across from an elementary school, and did not call the fire department.
A police officer passing by noticed the smoke and got other residents out of their apartments moments before the roof of the entire building collapsed. Many of the people in the apartments lost everything in the fire and one was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Both men pled guilty to conspiracy to manufacture meth near a school. Starks was sentenced to 16 years in prison and Duhme was given nine years.
The were ordered to pay $322,000 in restitution to the owner of the building, the other tenants and the insurance company.