From aggravated menacing to felonious assault: suspect in Big Mac Bridge arson case has violent criminal past
Dec 11, 2024
Assault, theft and drug possession are just some of the past allegations against the four people named by authorities in the massive fire that damaged the Big Mac Bridge. James Hamilton, Terry Stiles, Zachary Stumpf and Kaitlen Hall were arrested in connection with the Nov. 1 fire at 1,000 Hands Playground in Sawyer Point Park.Court records show the three men and woman have all faced a judge for unrelated misdemeanor and felony cases prior to Wednesday's arraignment.WCPO looked into each suspect's criminal history.Terry Stiles, 39Terry Stiles is being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center on a $1 million bond. Investigators charged him with one count of aggravated arson.According to court documents, Stiles intentionally set a fire at 801 E Pete Rose Way, "creating a substantial risk of serious physical harm to all of the motorists above," including the driver of a Freight liner flatbed tow truck.He was absent from his arraignment Wednesday morning at the recommendation of the Hamilton County Sheriff due to his unruly behavior in the jail. WCPO requested and obtained jail video recorded hours before the scheduled court appearance showing deputies restraining Stiles in a chair and placing him in a spit mask before wheeling him out of the jail pod. "We spoke with a lot of people that are in the orbit of Terry Stiles, including his family, and a lot of people have said the same thing, that Terry Stiles had made it clear to them that he would never go back to jail. He would rather die," Fire Specialist Stephen Metz told Russell.This was not the first time Stiles was accused of unruly or violent behavior. Before setting his bond, Hamilton County Judge Heather Russell spent four uninterrupted minutes reading off Stiles' lengthy criminal record, which dates back to when he was a juvenile and an out-of-state parole transfer in Texas.Russell listed off charges filed in Butler, Warren and Campbell Counties between 2021 and 2023, most of which were ignored. They included obstructing official business and illegal possession of a firearm in Middletown, an OVI in Lebanon and trespassing in Newport. "He has one violent felony, one felony, one violent misdemeanor, four misdemeanors, nine minor misdemeanors, three failures to appear," Russell said.The courts dismissed a 2020 resisting arrest charge, as well as a charge for assault and failure to contain his pitbull in 2018. Stiles was convicted of aggravated menacing and drug trafficking in 2017. A judge dismissed an assault charge in 2016. Stiles was convicted of felonious assault in 2005 and served the maximum sentence eight years in the Ohio Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. Stiles had pled guilty to the charge, admitting to assaulting Carl Leggett Jr. when he was 5-months-old.Police found Leggett in distress when they responded to his home on July 16, 2005, Deters said. The infants injuries were consistent with being beaten and shaken. Leggett had been under Stiles care at the time.Leggett was allegedly never able to walk, see or eat normally.Leggett died 14 years later in 2019 due to complications from the traumatic brain injury and his his death was ruled a homicide, according to a Hamilton County Coroners report.Months after Leggett's death, prosecutors charged Stiles with murder, but a Hamilton County judge dismissed the indictment citing two Ohio Supreme Court decisions stating under most circumstances prosecutors cannot charge someone with murder in connection with a death after that person has pleaded guilty to a lesser offense.Stiles' juvenile history includes an adjudication for aggravated menacing in 2003, adjudications for misdemeanor assault and a misdemeanor domestic violence threat in 2001 and another domestic violence charge in 2000.Stiles was most recently charged in April with trespassing. That case is pending. Zachary Stumpf, 23Zachary Stumpf is the second person charged with aggravated arson in connection to the fire under the Big Mac Bridge. He is also being held on a $1 million bond. Investigators said they were able to identify the 23-year-old based on video and witness statements. Stumpf "intentionally set a fire on a playground located under an interstate overpass," according to court records.Stumpf does not have any prior felonies filed in Hamilton County. He did plead guilty to driving without a license in June and had an eviction filing dismissed in May. At his arraignment Wednesday, prosecutors and fire investigators told the judge of Stumpf's uncooperative behavior throughout the arson investigation."In the days and weeks following this...the evasive tactics of the defendant and the difficulty with which we could even get him here today make us very concerned that he is a flight risk," the prosecutor said. While attempting to arrest another suspect, authorities said they found Stumpf and Stiles hiding in the home's attic. Hamilton County SWAT was called in to assist in their arrests.Kaitlen Hall, 24Kaitlen Hall is charged with two counts of obstructing justice in connection to the arson investigation. Hall "was asked questions about (Stiles') telephone number and his whereabouts" and she gave investigators false information, per court records. Another court document says she "was asked questions about her friendship of greater than six years and denied knowing (Stumpf's) last name when in fact she was aware of the information."Authorities were serving an arrest warrant at Hall's house Tuesday when they discovered Stiles and Stumpf hiding in the attic. Hall was taken into custody without incident. Hall has one prior felony charge for theft in 2023. It was ignored. The 24-year-old was also charged with drug possession in 2022. A judge allowed her to pay a fine. James Hamilton, 26Hamilton is also charged with obstructing justice, and like Hall, is accused of providing misleading information to investigators about Stiles and Stumpf during officials' arson investigation.Hamilton has a prior drug possession charge from 2022. A judge allowed him to pay a fine and close out the case. The 26-year-old has two prior traffic charges from 2022 and 2024 both were ignored. Meanwhile, Hamilton does have a pending felony case for aggravated drug possession. Reading police allegedly found Hamilton with a few grams of methamphetamine in April.