A Casper man is accused of starting a house fire at a party and touching a minor inappropriately.

Twenty-eight year old James Lucky has pleaded not guilty to one count of first degree arson and one count of sexual battery.

Investigators say in early April, police and fire crews were called to a house on the 1200 block of Bretton Drive, for a report of a fire, that had already been extinguished in the upstairs bathroom.

There was a party at that place earlier in the evening, and Lucky was in attendance.

One person told police that after the party had died down, she went to sleep and was later awoken by Lucky, who was touching her inappropriately.

Later she heard Lucky say that he just burned the house down while he was leaving, and the smoke alarms went off a short time after that.

Another resident found a towel in the bathroom was on fire and eventually put it out.

Fire investigators later determined that the cause was incendiary, and found out Lucky had an ignition source on him.

Lucky is being held on $10,000 bond awaiting trial and could face up to 20 years in prison, on the arson charge if convicted.

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