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Alleged Rapid River Pub arsonist’s case bound over

By Sophie Vogelmann 9 min read

ESCANABA - The case of a man who allegedly set fire to the Rapid River Pub almost one year ago has been bound over to the Delta County 47th Circuit Court after several witnesses testified Thursday.

Steven Truman Prestridge, 34, went before Delta County 94th District Court Judge Steven Parks during a preliminary examination. Parks ultimately found a probable cause for Prestridge's case to proceed into the 47th Circuit Court.

Prestridge is charged with one felony count of first-degree arson and one felony count of preparation to burn real property with a value of $20,000 or more in relation to a 2025 fire at the Rapid River Pub, 10491 S. Main St. in Rapid River. He was initially arraigned on charges of second-degree arson and arson -- preparation to burn real property.

During a competency hearing in October, Prestridge was ruled incompetent to stand trial. After receiving treatment, Prestridge was found competent to stand trial in July.

On Thursday, Delta County Prosecuting Attorney Lauren Wickman called seven witnesses, which included law enforcement officers, the owner of the pub, the manager of the pub at the time of the fire and multiple patrons that witnessed the incident.

At approximately 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 1, 2025, the Rapid River Pub's assistant manager and multiple patrons inside and outside of the pub heard an explosion coming from the rear entrance of the building.

A patron quickly notified Amber Proehl, assistant manager and closing bartender that night, of a fire. Proehl then contacted the pub's owner, Thomas Szocinski.

Fortunately, all occupants of the building -- including the residents that rented two units above the pub -- were able to safely evacuate the building.

Patrons and Proehl began efforts to extinguish the flames and were successfully able to control the fire until firefighters and law enforcement arrived.

On Thursday, Szocinski testified that the back of the pub was smoldering when he arrived with his wife. He also noted there was smoke damage to the restaurant. It was reported on Thursday the fair market value of the building is approximately $300,000.

According to Szocinski, he had previous interactions with Prestridge about one month prior to the fire when Prestridge was allegedly harassing customers at the bar area of the restaurant.

"He was speaking to customers telling them that he was going to harm them,” Szocinski said. "He asked about their food and said that he was going to physically harm them."

Szocinski and another bar patron then asked Prestridge to leave the restaurant. While Szocinski said Prestridge seemed agitated and wasn't making coherent sentences, he complied with Szocinski's request and was verbally banned from the premises. A legal trespass was not pursued.

Proehl, who had been employed by the pub for about three years before the fire, also testified Thursday. She said she had been separating cans in the pub's can room just after midnight Sept. 1 when she saw Prestridge in the pub's back room -- an employees only area.

Proehl said she knew of Prestridge’s ban and politely reminded him that he was no longer welcome in their establishment, to which he responded some of his friends were outside, seemingly explaining his presence.

However, when Proehl asked patrons outside if anyone invited Prestridge to the restaurant, nobody spoke up. She and another patron inside the bar asked Prestridge to leave, and he left the property.

Prestridge allegedly returned to the property at approximately 12:30 a.m. at the time of the explosion. While Proehl did not see Prestridge at this time, other patrons outside of the bar said they observed him outside.

"I was standing inside doing some cleanup, talking to other people in the bar, when the whole place just exploded, pretty much," Proehl said.

She later continued, "I was standing behind the bar, and the entire building shook. Things fell off the wall, and I had no idea what happened, but it felt like something blew up in there."

At the time of the explosion, three patrons had been inside the building along with Proehl. Proehl said she ran to the back of the restaurant to see what happened, when another patron peeked their head inside the pub and told her the back of the pub was on fire.

"I went to go start running back there, but in my head, I thought, is something going to blow up again? I didn’t want to be back there to find out," Proehl added.

The third person to take the witness box on Thursday was James Refuse, a patron of the restaurant who was outside in what is referred to as "Rapid's landing" -- an area with a wooden fence, a fire pit and benches -- when the fire started.

Refuse said when he heard a pop and saw smoke around 12:30 a.m., he went around the fence and saw Prestridge standing in the alley, watching the fire. Many of the patrons at the bar were familiar with Prestridge, as he had been served at the bar in the past and had been known in the area.

Prestridge was reportedly seen in the alley for a brief moment before he turned around and left. Refuse also said Prestridge "might have been laughing. He was smiling."

Also testifying Thursday was Michigan State Police (MSP) Trooper Isaac Cooper from the Gladstone Post. Cooper said he was dispatched to the Rapid River Pub for what was initially reported as a structure fire after midnight on Sept. 1.

Cooper then met with Szocinski and proceeded to the west side -- the back -- of the building, where the damage was most concentrated.

By the time Cooper arrived to the pub, the flames were extinguished, though Cooper said he observed the building smoldering with a lot of burn damage.

Cooper also found the back door of the pub to be severely charred, as well as some of the siding on the building.

In the alleyway, Cooper observed a white five-gallon bucket that was melted with burn marks. Around the bucket on the ground was a wet liquid that Cooper said smelled like gasoline.

MSP Gladstone Post Trooper Garrett McDonald testified Thursday, as well. McDonald worked the day shift Sept. 1, when he was contacted by dispatch about Prestridge -- a suspect in the pub fire investigation -- who was reportedly in the Bay View area.

McDonald subsequently made contact with Prestridge at some point during the day of Sept. 1 and arrested him. The trooper noted Prestridge's hair was burnt, and he also had burns on his hands and face.

Upon contact, the trooper also said Prestridge allegedly confessed to going to Circle K the night of the fire, purchasing 91-octane gasoline, bringing it to the pub, pouring it on the pub and using a lighter to light the fuel.

Prestridge then allegedly grabbed his things and ran after he lit the building on fire "because I knew I f***ed up," the police report on the incident states. He told police he slept in the park in Rapid River that night.

McDonald reported Prestridge said he didn't expect the fire to go up the way that it did, resulting in his burns. The police report on the incident also refers to this, stating, "He did not know it would explode like that."

During McDonald's testimony, he further said Prestridge "did also make some vile statements in there, too" at the time of his arrest, as Prestridge was "not happy" with the pub.

As to Prestridge's alleged motive, the police report states, "The owner of the bar (redacted) and that is why he tried to burn the building down. (Redacted) he is going to make him go missing."

In previous court proceedings, law enforcement was reportedly told that after Prestridge was asked to leave shortly after midnight Sept. 1, Prestridge replied, "Then I'll take this place down." This was not mentioned in testimony Thursday.

Last to testify Thursday was MSP Fire Investigator Spl/Sgt Jason Berg, who was admitted as an expert witness in the field of fire investigation. Berg covers fire investigations in all Upper Peninsula counties.

Berg said he was called Sept. 3 to assist in the Rapid River Pub fire investigation and to determine the origin of cause. His preliminary findings showed the only area of fire damage on the exterior of the building was at the rear entrance, leading him to hypothesize the fire started at the rear entrance.

He also said there was some small damage to the interior of the west wall inside, with some water damage due to the fire department's extinguishing efforts.

"The rear entry steps were pretty charred," Berg said. "The exterior sheet metal that was removed by the fire department was put back up, which showed a fire pattern on it. All fire that I observed was started in those areas. There was also an area on the rear door that there was a fire pattern on it."

He also searched for any potential electrical issues that could have been the cause of the fire, though he didn't find anything electrical in the area of the damage.

During Berg's testimony, he also said a K9 trained in detecting accelerants indicated accelerants in three different areas of the fire damage. Those areas of fire debris were collected and sent to the MSP lab in Grand Rapids for testing, which came back positive for gasoline.

After being advised of Prestridge's alleged confession to Cooper, Berg ultimately hypothesized that Prestridge poured gasoline at the back of the pub and used a lighter to ignite the fuel into flames, determining this was an incendiary fire.

As of publication, Prestridge's next court appearance is yet to be scheduled.

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Sophie Vogelmann can be reached at 906-786-2021 or svogelmann@dailypress.net.

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