Cedar Rapids woman charged with arson after apartment fire

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids woman was arrested and charged with first-degree arson after a fire broke out Monday in her apartment.

Meredith Hendricks, 33, had her first appearance in court Tuesday and was being held in the Linn County Jail on a cash-only $50,000 bail.

Cedar Rapids firefighters were called just before 8 p.m. Monday to the fire at 2939 12th Ave. SW. Firefighters found a small fire contained to a single room in a second-floor apartment. Occupants were able to evacuate safely and no injuries were reported, according to the fire department.

Hendricks’ apartment was the one on fire and she was still on scene when first responders arrived. According to a criminal complaint, police officers spoke with Hendricks and she admitted she had lit some papers on fire in her bathtub in order to dispose of them, and then smoked methamphetamine with another resident of the apartment complex. The complaint doesn’t say whether she was smoking in her apartment at the time of the fire or if she had left to smoke elsewhere.

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