Talkeetna newcomer arrested on federal warrant

TALKEETNA -- A man who took up residence in an uninhabited cabin last summer in Talkeetna and made friends with a few locals remains something of a mystery after his arrest last week on a U.S. federal warrant that claims he committed arson for hire.

Edward B. Baumgart, 49, came under police scrutiny when he apparently made himself at home in a recreational cabin without permission, said Alaska State Trooper Ted Norris. The cabin is back from the main road, accessible only by walking in on a narrow path in summer. It was an old, rundown cabin until Baumgart moved it and fixed it up, Norris said.

"We were trying to sort out the trespass issue and ran a check on his identification," Norris said. "Then I was driving down the road the other day. It was 20-something below zero and there he was hitchhiking."

Norris gave him a ride from the cold, and while he was at it, arrested him on the federal warrant.

Little is known about the actual crime Baumgart is suspected of committing, said U.S. Assistant District Attorney Joe Botini. The federal indictment, issued Oct. 13, 1998, by a grand jury in Chicago's U.S. District Court charges him with two felony counts. One count alleges he "conspired to destroy a building affecting interstate commerce," and the other count alleges he "solicited to commit a crime of violence."

Apparently, this is in connection with a December 1995 fire that destroyed the Cragin Sausage & Deli Co., in Chicago.

"The subject of the allegations are that Mr. Baumgart acted as an intermediary in arson for hire," Botini said. "He may have been a middle man between the person desiring the arson and person who allegedly committed the arson."

Baumgart is lodged at Cook Inlet Pretrial, awaiting a second hearing in Anchorage's U.S. District Court that seeks to determine whether he is the same person charged in the Chicago indictment, Botini said. Monday, at his first hearing, he was appointed a federal defense attorney.

They are uncertain when Baumgart moved to Alaska, Botini said, though he had in his possession an Alaska identification card dated for renewal in October 2006, which means he received the ID card this past October. He also had a Willow post office box where he received his mail.

The U.S. Attorney's office has information indicating Baumgart came from Poland at the age of 14 in 1966, and officials believe he was naturalized as an American citizen, Botini said.

If Baumgart proves to be the person named in the Chicago indictment, he will be escorted back by U.S. Marshals, Botini said.

Back at the little cabin Baumgart claimed for his own, all his possessions are left behind. Outside, he built a well-crafted wood shed and repaired a sagging roof on the house, Norris said. Inside, the trooper found 25-pound bags of flour and sugar as if Baumgart were settling in for winter. Photos of him at the Talkeetna Blue Grass Festival indicate he might have earned money by helping at that event, and Norris also believes he earned some money working on local construction projects.

"He was handy -- there's nothing wrong with his craftsmanship," said Norris.

Norris has talked with the Bureau of Land Management and the Mat-Su Borough to try to determine who owns the cabin Baumgart made his own. So far, Norris hasn't established who owns the cabin.

"He definitely claimed the place for his own. There's a sign he hung outside saying, 'Please Don't Break Into this Cabin,'" Norris said.