Apartment Building

Fire officials and Danville police detectives are investigating a fire that destroyed an apartment building early today on Fourth Street. Deputy Fire Chief Woody Ball said flames shot 30 feet into the air and smoke was visible for miles as the building at 209-211 N. Fourth St. burned about 1 a.m. The intensity of the fire blew glass from windows on the front side of the building into the street. The building owned by Lewis Lambert of Louisville is believed to have three housing units but was was unoccupied at the time of the fire, Ball said.

HARRODSBURG - Julie Shaw lives on the top floor of The Academy apartment complex on Chiles Street. The wall of her bedroom was completely torn off in Tuesday night's storm, giving passers-by a cross-section view of her living space. Bricks from the building lay scattered on the ground, and nearly every window of Shaw's apartment was busted. Still, she managed to look at the bright side today. "I'm just glad I found a uniform," said Shaw, who works with Lexington Police Department.

Erica Bowman, 20, of Danville, was charged with burglary after she allegedly entered an apartment building at 1020 E. Main St., police said. The Meadow Run apartment was vacant and nothing was taken in the burglary at 10:31 a.m. March 23, according to a report by Officer Clark Logan.

The death penalty is possible for a woman and three men indicted this week in the murder of a Lincoln County man, The Lexington Herald-Leader reported today. John Laswell, 39, of Hustonville, was shot July 10, 2003, as he sat in a car outside an apartment building in Lexington. Indicted for armed robbery and murder are Ostaohanmwen Ananuwa Ighodaro, Arthur Eugene Roberts, William Douglas Doty III and Marcus Lewis. Lewis was identfied as the trigger man, The Herald-Leader reported.

STANFORD - A Main Street fire Friday destroyed the upstairs floor of an apartment building at 710 E. Main St. Fire Chief Kenneth McDaniel said the blaze was fully involved when firefighters arrived about 11:22 a.m. The fire apparently started in the upstairs and had spread throughout the upstairs in the old house that had been made into an apartment building. McDaniel said the cause of the fire has not been determined. Two investigators with the local fire department will check the scene to try and make a determination of the cause, the chief said.

A Louisville man under sealed indictment for allegedly burning down a Danville apartment building he owned is now in custody after more than a year of searching by authorities. Assistant Danville Fire Chief Woody Ball said Michael Lewis Lambert was taken into custody June 11 by Louisville Metro Police after a routine traffic stop. He is being held at the Boyle County Detention Center on a second-degree arson charge. Authorities suspect Lambert was involved with setting a May 11, 2009, fire that gutted his apartment building at 209-211 N. Fourth St. Ball said authorities were told that Lambert’s daughter, the lone tenant, had moved out the day before the fire occurred.

JUNCTION CITY - Junction City Fire Department responded to a fire in an apartment building at 840 W. Shelby St. shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday. The building, located a block away from the city fire house, has three units. The fire appeared to have started in the front apartment that faces the street. According to Junction City Fire Chief Jimmy Gipson, the cause had not yet been determined, but electricity and smoking were both possibilities. Gipson had not yet identified the residents but said the owner of the building was Dick Burchett.

Housing Authority of Danville complexes: McIntyre Homes at the end of Queen Street has 33 townhouses and one-level units. Bate-Wood Homes on South Second Street has 64 townhouses and duplex units. Crescent Drive next to McIntyre Homes is a family housing area with 40 duplex apartments. Nichols Terrace off of Old Shakertown Road has 39 duplex apartments. Linietta Homes on Linietta Drive and Bells Lane in Junction City has 26 duplex apartments. Burckley Homes off of East Main Street has 48 townhouses and single-level units.

A man accused of making pipe bombs in his apartment began serving his year in prison Thursday afternoon. James Beschorner, 45, of 110 Springmist Lane, has already served the bulk of his time since being arrested on Aug. 30, 2008 when his neighbors called police. They told police that Beschorner had threatened his ex-girlfriend as well as the apartment building he was living in. When Winchester Police officers arrived, they saw a pair of pipe bombs in plain view in the living room.

A large portion of south Danville skies were blackened by smoke late Friday afternoon as firefighters battled a fire at a two-story apartment building at 518 Longview Road. Dozens of onlookers watched as flames engulfed the east side of the building. Danville firefighters arrived on scene at 2:48 p.m. and attempted to contain the blaze. Chief Mike Thomas said it took four hours to extinguish the blaze, after units from the Boyle County, Perryville and Junction City fire departments aided on scene.

A combination of windy weather and aged trees caused a mess for apartment residents on East Lexington Avenue Thursday morning. Nancy Griffin of Danville said she left the house where she lives in a ground-level apartment about 8:30 a.m. When she returned just a few hours later, two magnolia trees near the house had collapsed leaving the parking area littered with debris. “There were thousands of pieces,” said Griffin, who parks her car directly where one of the trees hit. “It was like a war zone.” The magnolia trees likely were dead, causing them to splinter into the scattered mess.

Erin Hall and her infant daughter Michaela Evans were lucky to be in another room when someone fired a shotgun into their home in a case of mistaken identity Wednesday morning. Police charged 24-year-old Larry Patrick Jr. late Wednesday afternoon at his residence in the Phoenix House apartments after receiving a tip, Winchester Police Capt. James Hall said. Around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Eva Heath returned home to 116 Westside Drive to find a window shattered by a gunshot blast.

A Louisville man under sealed indictment for allegedly burning down a Danville apartment building he owned is now in custody after more than a year of searching by authorities. Assistant Danville Fire Chief Woody Ball said Michael Lewis Lambert was taken into custody June 11 by Louisville Metro Police after a routine traffic stop. He is being held at the Boyle County Detention Center on a second-degree arson charge. Authorities suspect Lambert was involved with setting a May 11, 2009, fire that gutted his apartment building at 209-211 N. Fourth St. Ball said authorities were told that Lambert’s daughter, the lone tenant, had moved out the day before the fire occurred.

An insurance company has won a default civil judgment against the owner of an apartment building on North Fourth Street that burned under suspicious circumstances in May. Last Wednesday, Boyle Circuit Court Judge Darren Peckler signed the judgment against the building's owner Lewis Lambert of Cincinnati, stating that Kentucky Growers Association owes Lambert nothing for his personal property claims and awarding the company $6,732 in attorney's fees...

Police are looking for two masked men who allegedly brandished guns and assaulted a member of a Danville family when they came home early this morning. Danville police were called to 663 Ben Ali Drive following reports that two people dressed in black and wearing ski masks were pointing pistols at a couple and their two children when they returned home about 12:15 a.m. Police said the armed individuals attacked the male resident. The female victim, an infant and another young child were pushed against the wall of the apartment building during the assault.

A man is in custody today after shooting at police with an assault rifle from inside his apartment Monday night. Elton Chambers, 60, of 1021 Nokomis St., was arrested by police at 7:24 p.m. Monday after a nearly hour-long standoff that began with Chambers firing an assault rifle at police through his front door, according to a police report. Danville 911 received a report at 6:21 p.m. of an intoxicated man threatening to kill himself with a gun, according to a Danville 911 Center incident listing.

Fire officials and Danville police detectives are investigating a fire that destroyed an apartment building early today on Fourth Street. Deputy Fire Chief Woody Ball said flames shot 30 feet into the air and smoke was visible for miles as the building at 209-211 N. Fourth St. burned about 1 a.m. The intensity of the fire blew glass from windows on the front side of the building into the street. The building owned by Lewis Lambert of Louisville is believed to have three housing units but was was unoccupied at the time of the fire, Ball said.

More than a month after a vacant Nicholasville apartment complex burned down on Feb. 14, the Nicholasville Police Department have arrested two men in connection to the blaze. Terry Rhodes Carter, 64, and Thomas Aaron Gilbert, 29, both of 121 Lake Country Road, Nicholasville, were arrested. Carter has been charged with complicity to second-degree arson, a Class B felony, punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted; Gilbert was charged with third-degree arson, a Class D felony, punishable by one to five years in prison.

A man accused of making pipe bombs in his apartment began serving his year in prison Thursday afternoon. James Beschorner, 45, of 110 Springmist Lane, has already served the bulk of his time since being arrested on Aug. 30, 2008 when his neighbors called police. They told police that Beschorner had threatened his ex-girlfriend as well as the apartment building he was living in. When Winchester Police officers arrived, they saw a pair of pipe bombs in plain view in the living room.

A Winchester man accused of making pipe bombs in his apartment pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon and agreed to serve one year in prison. James Beschorner, 45, of 110 Springmist Lane, will be sentenced next month in Clark Circuit Court for possession of a booby-trap device. Beschorner has been incarcerated in the Clark County Jail since his arrests by Winchester Police on Aug. 30 and may have already served much of his time. The ultimate determination on how much more he must serve, though, is the responsibility of the Department of Corrections, Beschorner's attorney Lauren Clark said.