Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Officers were dispatched to the Moose Club, 422 Pennsylvania Ave. W., on Feb. 26. City of Warren police arrested Joseph R. Kuzminski, 32, the day after he was discovered on multiple pieces of security camera footage

The man charged in connection with a fire last week at the Moose Club in downtown Warren has waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Joseph R. Kuzminski, 32, faces charges of burglary – overnight accommodation; person present, bodily injury crime, arson – danger of death or bodily injury, risking catastrophe, criminal mischief – damage property intentional, reckless or negligent, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property stemming from the incident which occurred on Feb. 26.

He waived his right to a preliminary hearing before District Justice Todd Woodin on Tuesday afternoon.

Kuzminski, according to the affidavit of probable cause, told police he “intentionally started the fire in the building to use for light and heat” but “got distracted as he was looking through boxes.”

According to the criminal complaint, he told police that “if something would have caught his eye he probably would have took it.”

He then reported to police that the fire was approximately one foot over the top of the bucket and said he “got scared and went out to the bathroom and got a container of water and dumped it on the fire” before leaving the building “when he heard and saw the Fire Department out front of the building.”

City of Warren police arrested Kuzminski the following day after he was discovered on multiple pieces of security camera footage and remains incarcerated in the Warren County Jail.

His next court date, formal arraignment, is set for March 26.