Iron County Man Indicted For Fire on Government Land & Assault on Forestry Official

(Cape Girardeau) A man from Iron County has been indicted on charges that accuse him of starting fires in the Mark Twain National Forest and assaulting a law enforcement officer.

A news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office says 36-year-old Lucas G. Henson appeared in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau on Wednesday.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Henson was indicted December 6th for assaulting a law enforcement officer, arson and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The indictment says Henson assaulted a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer on October 23rd of this year in Wayne County.

On the same date, the indictment says Henson damaged United States property with fire and possessed a firearm as a convicted felon.

Henson is currently facing charges including robbery, stealing a motor vehicle and resisting arrest in New Madrid Circuit Court related to the same incident.

In that case, documents say he set three fires in Wayne and Butler counties that damaged seven to eight acres of national forest land and he allegedly pointed a crossbow at the forest service officer.