Caiden Stachowicz, 19, was charged with felony arson, making terrorist threats, attempted burglary and property damage after attempting to burn down a Wisconsin congressman’s office on Jan. 19, because he was reportedly upset with the TikTok ban. If convicted on all counts, Stachowicz could face up to 50 years in prison.
Stachowicz was scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Jan. 22. Judge Tricia Walker set a $500,000 cash bail and ordered the Menasha man to have no contact with U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman or his staff. Stachowicz was also barred from possessing any dangerous weapons or fire-starting materials.
According to the complaint filed against Stachowicz by Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, a police officer had responded to a fire outside Grothman’s Fond du Lac office around 1 a.m. on Jan. 19 and saw Stachowicz watching nearby.
The officer then put out the flames with his fire extinguisher. Stachowicz informed the officer that he had started the fire because he didn’t like Grothman. The officer placed Stachowicz under arrest and brought him into the police department.
During a follow-up interview at the police station, Stachowicz told the officer he had attempted to break into Grothman’s office to start the fire but was unable to break the window. Instead, Stachowicz poured gasoline on an electrical box in the back of the building and threw a lit match on it.
Stachowicz stated he wanted to burn down the building down because the U.S. government was shutting down TikTok. Grothman had voted “yes” to a bill in April 2024 that mandated TikTok’s China-based company, ByteDance, sell its U.S. operation by Jan. 19. He went on to state that he didn’t want to harm Grothman or anyone else in the building, but he wished the whole building had burned down.
An arraignment for Stachowicz has been scheduled for Feb. 17.
