The proprietor of Minnesota’s oldest lodge is charged with burning it down to gather a hefty insurance coverage declare after repeatedly texting his husband, “Simply burn it,” prosecutors mentioned.
Bryce Campbell, proprietor of once-beloved, 140-year-old Lutsen Resort alongside the shores of Lake Superior, was arrested this week, practically two years after he denied any involvement within the devastating blaze that left solely two chimneys remaining.
Campbell, 41, was contained in the lodge across the time the hearth began within the basement on Feb. 6, 2024 — and police consider it was a cash-grab for insurance coverage earlier than the enterprise went underneath from money owed of no less than $14 million.
Days earlier than the hearth, Campbell, a Canadian nationwide, texted along with his husband about how they owed greater than $466,000 to the Canada Income Company.
“Simply burn it,” he allegedly texted, a chorus he repeated in different messages about dangerous evaluations.
Lower than per week earlier than the blaze, the resort’s basic supervisor emailed Campbell warning that they didn’t come up with the money for to make payroll the next week, in keeping with the criticism.
The proprietor had additionally simply elevated the insurance coverage coverage on the resort by about $4.5 million since 2022, authorities mentioned.
He later submitted a $16.5 million insurance coverage declare, citing “a fireplace of unknown origin,” the criticism says.
A search of his cellphone historical past, nevertheless, confirmed he’d looked for glycol, a sort of alcohol, as nicely Swissmar, a sort of accelerant that investigators later discovered traces of within the boiler room.
Campbell was arrested in Michigan with out incident on Wednesday and is charged with arson and insurance coverage fraud.
“In committing this egocentric felony act, Mr. Campbell thought of his personal private profit over the lives and livelihoods of the folks he employed, whereas at similar time destroying a treasured Minnesota landmark,” Minnesota’s Bureau of Prison Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans mentioned in a press release.
Campbell purchased the lodge and its property in 2018 for $6.7 million, the criticism mentioned. Across the time of the hearth, he was some $14 million in debt and the enterprise was floundering.
After folks speculated that he could have been accountable, Campbell vehemently denied any involvement, saying he had poured tens of millions into and claimed he had plans to rebuild.
“You don’t [expletive] torch a spot and deplete $5 million of your cash … Let’s use some widespread sense right here, folks,” he wrote to the Minnesota Star-Tribune on the time.
Lutsen Resort has been in operation for practically 140 years, and boasts its the state’s oldest lodge.
The lodge that burned was inbuilt 1952, after hearth destroyed two earlier services, in keeping with the Star-Tribune.
