Marion police help Texas Rangers nab man wanted for arson    

Being on the run for setting fire to a Texas legislator's car wasn't enough trouble for Michael Patrick Wagner, he then fled to Iowa and was arrested for shoplifting while under surveillance by Marion police.

Marion Lt. Scott Elam said Monday the Texas Rangers contacted them Aug. 12, after they tracked Wagner's vehicle to Linn County. The Rangers identified his car through a parking ticket Wagner received at the Texas State Capitol when he allegedly set fire to a car belonging to a Sergeant at Arms of the Texas legislature earlier this month.

Elam said Wagner, 38, was staying at the Microtel, 5500 Dyer Ave., near Highway 13 and U.S. 151, and officers kept Wagner under surveillance while the Rangers were getting an arrest warrant. During the surveillance, officers followed him to the Wal-Mart and they witnessed him shoplifting clothing and other items.

Officers then followed him back to the motel and started working on getting a search warrant for his car and the motel room for the stolen items, Elam said.

'We didn't know what he had in the room so we waited until he came back outside and surrounded him in the parking lot,” Elam said. 'He didn't resist - there was nowhere for him to go.”

The Rangers found some items relevant to the vehicle arson in Wagner's car and possibly some clothing he may have worn the day of the arson in the motel room, Elam said. Once Wagner was arrested by the Rangers, he refused extradition back to Texas but the Rangers, with Marion police expediting the process, obtained a governor's warrant. A governor's warrant allows law enforcement to take a fugitive back to the state where the crime was committed.

Elam said he didn't know why Wagner was in Marion. Wagner has family in the area and is originally from Jones County, but the last contact he had with Marion police was in 2000 when he was arrested for drunken driving. Elam added that Wagner's car still had Iowa plates.

Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner confirmed that Wagner was released from the jail into the custody of the Texas Rangers last Friday. Wagner faces a felony arson charge in Texas.