3 charged with murder, arson and financial crimes in connection with death of Chicago firefighter

CHICAGO — Cook County prosecutors have charged three men with murder, arson and financial crimes in connection with the death of a Chicago firefighter last year while battling a blaze on the Far South Side.

Martez Cristler, 22, of Hammond, Indiana, and Nicholas Virgil, 37, of Riverdale, are charged with murder and arson. Anthony Moore, 47, of Blue Island, is charged with wire fraud, insurance fraud and forgery.

On April 4, 2023, Jermaine Pelt, 49, was called to a frame house at 12015 S. Wallace St. in the West Pullman neighborhood, where a heavy fire was on the second floor and in the attic. He died of smoke inhalation.

Records from the Cook County Clerk’s Office and Illinois Secretary of State show that a company registered to Moore bought the property at 12017 S. Wallace in 2021.

Moore’s arrest report lists State Farm Insurance as the victim in the incident.

A Tribune reporter spoke with Moore last year shortly after the fire, and he said he was in the process of rehabbing the property as a rental unit.

Moore previously told the Tribune that he received several phone calls from a neighbor across the street who told him his building caught fire after the blaze spread from the property to the north.

“I couldn’t see what was going on because everything was going up in flames when I got there,” Moore told the Tribune a few hours after the fire. “It’s a nightmare. I’ve been working to finally get it (the property) together and just keep on moving, you know, get some tenants in there and keep going.”

Though both the Fire Department and Moore said the fire started at 12015 S. Wallace, the owner of that property told the Tribune last year that he believed the blaze started in Moore’s building.

“They probably got the address wrong,” the neighbor said at the time. “If it started in my building, how (did the other) building burn up, but mine didn’t?”

Pelt was born and raised in the West Pullman neighborhood, the same area where he served as a firefighter. He walked his only daughter down the aisle months before he was killed, family members said.

“He had a devotion to this job and this neighborhood,” said Capt. Rory Ohse after his death.

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