St. Cloud bar owner charged with first-degree arson
Updated: 2:46 p.m.
The owner of a historic downtown St. Cloud bar destroyed in a fire last month has been charged with intentionally setting it ablaze as he faced financial pressures.
Andrew Charles Welsh, 40, of St. Joseph, was charged in Stearns County District Court with two counts of first-degree arson. The criminal complaint alleges Welsh, who had an insurance policy on the Press Bar and Parlor, lit an accelerant on the surface of his desk in the bar’s basement.
Judge John H. Scherer set his bail at $1.2 million unconditional or $200,000 with conditions.
Welsh owns the Press Bar, which has been a fixture on the corner of St. Germain Street and Fifth Avenue since the 1940s. Early the morning of Feb. 17, a fire broke out in the bar’s basement and quickly spread. It took about 60 firefighters to put out the blaze, and crews had to demolish the building to save adjacent businesses.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The fire caused more than $1 million in damage. No one was injured, but several nearby businesses sustained smoke and water damage. Streets in downtown St. Cloud were blocked off during the investigation.
Ryan Garry, Welsh’s attorney, did not respond to a request for an interview. But in an emailed statement on Tuesday, he said his client is “absolutely innocent” and would be acquitted at trial.
“He has been charged with crimes that he did not commit, and we will be working hard to defend him on these false allegations. He is a good man and a loving father, has no criminal history, and should have never been arrested and charged in the first place,” Garry said.
According to the criminal complaint, Welsh had financial motive to burn down his bar. Andrew and Jessie Welsh, then his wife, purchased the bar in 2016 from Jim Gillespie and Greg Payne, who had owned it for 42 years, according to the St. Cloud Times. They bought it for $850,000 through a contract for deed, and still owed about $550,000 at the time of the fire.
According to prosecutors, “multiple employees” said business at the bar had been declining, “to the point where the defendant was reducing staff and had ended the sale of tap beer.”
The Welshes divorced in the fall of 2019. A judge ordered Welsh and his ex-wife to list the Press Bar for sale by Jan. 20, according to prosecutors. Investigators said Welsh failed to do that — and, while applying for public medical assistance over the past several years, he did not include the Press Bar because he claimed it wasn’t making money.
Welsh had an insurance policy on the Press Bar and Parlor that covered about $1.3 million for building repairs and $300,000 for equipment repairs, the complaint said. Those figures didn’t include the value of the land. The St. Cloud Times reported this week that a mechanic’s lien was filed last year against various properties that belonged to the Welshes.
Three days after the fire, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ National Response Team joined local and state investigators searching for the cause. It was the first time the ATF team had worked a case in Minnesota since 2004.
On Feb. 29, ATF investigators and the St. Cloud Police Department found Welsh in his truck at a residence in Sauk Rapids owned by Welsh and his ex-wife.
Investigators arrested Welsh, and found nearly $2,000 in cash and a bottle of Ronsonol lighter fuel on the floor of the vehicle.
Correction (March 4, 2020): An earlier version of this article misstated who authorities arrested last month. The article has been updated.