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Man faces arson charges in Door County supper club fire

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Posted at 4:18 PM, Nov 04, 2022
and last updated 2022-11-05 16:12:36-04

DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — A man is facing arson charges in connection to a fire that damaged Mr. G's Logan Creek Grille supper club in October.

Jonathan J. Polich is facing two counts of arson of a building without the owner's consent.

According to a newly filed charging document, Polich had previously been accused of stalking the son of the supper club's owners. The criminal complaint said the victim of the stalking knew Polich back in high school.

The criminal complaint said the victim reported to police that Polich had sent him threatening messages in August. Some of the alleged texts were featured in the criminal complaint:

You have only a couple days to live since your torching me.

How'd you know that this is my number? I wondering because you're spying on me. If I kill you it's self-defense and you know you deserve to die.

I want the 11000 dollars you owe so I can buy a gun to kill your [expletive]

According to the complaint, "the SMS messages from Polich allege that [the victim] was using mind powers to attempt to murder Polich and he wanted [him] to stop."

The criminal complaint also said Polich harassed tenants at a rental property in Milwaukee that the victim owned.

According to the complaint, Polich had tried to get a gun from a family member, who refused him. The complaint said Polich had also tried to legally buy a gun.

As authorities investigated the fire, the complaint said an officer manually reviewed the Google Takeout information from Polich’s Google account and found that between Monday, August 1, 2022, and Tuesday, October 25, 2022, the only date Polich’s cellular device was at Mr. G’s was on Sunday, October 23, 2022, which is the day of the fire.

The complaint said an officer also found evidence that Polich looked up information online about the stalking victim's sister.

Polich was already in Door County Jail when arson charges were brought against him. He also faces a stalking charge. As an officer interviewed him in jail, the criminal complaint states Polich was quoted saying, "They don’t think I burned down Mr. G’s do they?”

The interviewing deputy told Polich that he did not have any of the details about the new charges. According to the complaint, Polich then stated, “Oh, okay. Because like I told my dad, I wasn’t even anywhere near that place when that was set.”

The deputy noted that it was interesting that Polich immediately brought up the fire at Mr. G’s because, until that point, no one had mentioned Mr. G’s.

If convicted of both arson charges, Polich faces a maximum penalty of 80 years in prison and a $200,000 fine.