Bail Kept at $250K in Butch’s Bar Fire Case

The Butch’s Bar building was demolished last week after the bodies of the two men who died in the fire were recovered. Photo by Rachel Lukas.

Formal charges were filed Monday against the man accused of starting the fire that destroyed Butch’s Bar, causing two deaths and endangering the lives of tenants.

Anthony Gonzalez, who’ll turn 58 on April 13, has been charged with two counts of second-degree reckless homicide, five counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and one count of negligent handling of burning material. The first seven charges are felonies and the eighth a misdemeanor, but all carry a repeater enhancer that increases the penalty if he’s convicted. 

Gonzalez is considered a repeat criminal offender because he has previously been convicted of felony charges of manufacturing/delivering THC, and possession with intent to deliver THC. Other charges that remain outstanding include bail jumping, charged in November 2021, and the manufacture and delivery of less than three grams of amphetamine, charged in 2020.

Gonzalez made his first appearance in Door County Circuit Court, appearing via Zoom from the Door County Jail while his attorney, Public Defender Aileen Henry, argued for leniency, also via Zoom, on the $250,000 cash bond that Judge Todd Ehlers set during the Feb. 25 bond hearing. 

Henry framed the charges as having stemmed from an accidental fire that the defendant tried to put out. She said he tried to warn residents and remained on the scene during and after the fire, fully cooperating with the investigation. 

“If he is convicted of any [of these charges], he’ll spend a significant amount of time in prison,” she said. “But still, he did not flee. He’s not a flight risk.”

She said he had a criminal history, but no convictions of violence or missing court appearances. He was making $15 an hour working 30 hours a week at McDonald’s and had been displaced by the fire, losing all his possessions.

“I’m asking you to look at the totality of the circumstances and set a reasonable bond,” she said, favoring a low cash bond.

Door County District Attorney Colleen Nordin argued that Gonzalez didn’t flee and was available for questioning, but he wasn’t aware that criminal charges were being investigated, so his “failure to flee during that time is insignificant.” 

In addition, there’s a charge from last year of bail jumping that’s still pending.

“I think there’s a high risk of flight,” she said, asking the judge to keep the $250,000 cash bail in place, a request also made via Zoom by family members of one of the deceased.

Ehlers said that although he appreciated Henry’s arguments in favor of a lower bond, he couldn’t lower it given the seriousness of the charges and the penalties those charges carried. All eight charges added together carry a maximum sentence of 135 years, repeater penalties included, and fines of up to $335,000. 

“If there were ever a potential to abscond, that would be the circumstances,” Ehlers said. “[A] $250,000 cash bond is significant, but I’m not going to be revising that. It’s appropriate, reasonable and necessary.”

Gonzalez Accused of Starting Fire with Lighter Fluid

According to the criminal complaint, police dispatch was alerted to the fire at 3:37 am on Feb. 22, and Sergeant Kyle Engebose of the Sturgeon Bay Police Department was the first on the scene. He witnessed smoke billowing from the building and flames coming from the side. At the front of the building closest to 3rd Avenue, a man would be rescued by the Sturgeon Bay Fire Department ladder truck out of a second-floor window. He was taken to a Milwaukee-area hospital for significant burns and smoke inhalation.

Gonzales had lived in Sturgeon Bay since 2014, and in Butch’s Bar’s room 3 for the past two years. He exited the building the night of the fire and allegedly told responding officers that he “spilled lighter fluid on my bed” while trying to light a lighter that was “like a Zippo,” according to the complaint.

The statement Gonzales gave investigators later, according to the complaint, was that he fell asleep while watching TV and woke up during the early-morning hours wanting a cigarette. He grabbed the closest lighter, which he described as a “torch-type lighter,” according to the complaint. 

The lighter was out of fluid, so Gonzalez allegedly grabbed the can of fuel to fill up the lighter off the table next to his bed, and while still in bed, attempted to fill the lighter. He allegedly said he could not see very well and started spraying fluid all over while trying to fill the lighter, getting some on his hands and the corner of the mattress. 

Once he got the fuel in the lighter properly, according to the complaint, he struck the lighter once to light his cigarette, but it did not light. He struck it again, according to the complaint, at “which point his hands caught fire, and the corner of the mattress also caught on fire.” 

Gonzalez allegedly tried to stifle the fire with a pillow. When that didn’t work, he pulled the fire extinguisher off the wall of his room, and “he thought he pulled out the pin and used the extinguisher on the fire on the bed,” according to the complaint, but “the next thing he knew, there was smoke coming from the ceiling.”

Gonzalez allegedly pounded on a neighboring tenant’s door, who attempted to help put out the fire, but it was too hot by that time to enter the room.

Gonzalez denied being under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances, according to the complaint. 

In addition to the cash-bond requirement, Gonzalez was ordered not to have any contact with the other residents of the building or the relatives of the two deceased men who were recovered from the fire scene – the first on Feb. 22, the second on Feb. 24. 

Gonzalez’s preliminary hearing will be held March 31, 1:15 pm, in Door County Circuit Court.