ALTON – A man from Alton remains in custody after breaking into, stealing from, then setting fire to an occupied apartment building on Belle Street.
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Zachary S. Montague, 32, of Alton, was charged on June 25, 2025 with a Class X felony count of aggravated arson and a Class 2 felony count of burglary.
Montague is accused of burglarizing and intentionally setting fire to a multi-family residential apartment building in the 3200 block of Belle Street, which he knew or reasonably should have known was occupied on March 27, 2025.
According to the state’s petition to deny Montague’s pretrial release, Montague was seen on surveillance footage entering the apartment building at approximately 5:30 p.m. and leaving at 5:41 p.m. with stolen property. Smoke was seen coming from the building six minutes later, and a K-9 unit alerted to accelerants at the fire scene.
“The Illinois State Fire Marshal determined the fire was incendiary (intentionally set by human action),” the petition states. “The apartment building housed multiple families with children in adjacent units who were present during the incident. Defendant admitted knowledge that children lived in the building.
“Defendant's actions endangered multiple families and demonstrate a willingness to use fire as a weapon, posing a serious threat to community safety. The deliberate use of fire in a residential setting with knowledge of occupied adjacent units demonstrates defendant poses a specific, real and present threat to persons and the community.”
A report of Montague’s criminal history shows multiple prior convictions of burglary in Madison County dating back to 2012. At the time of this latest incident, he reportedly had an outstanding warrant in Johnson County, Ill. for failure to appear (FTA) in court.
The Alton Police Department presented the arson case against Montague, who currently remains in custody at the Madison County Jail.
All individuals charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
