FERRIDAY — A man wanted for several felony crimes in Arizona was apprehended and arrested Thursday after he allegedly burned down the Vidalia house in which he was staying and fled from law enforcement officials for five hours.

Stanley Vernon Schickel, 40, also faces three charges from the La Paz Sheriff’s Office including resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to appear for misconduct with weapons.

Vidalia Assistant Police Chief Bruce Wiley said his officers responded to a disturbance call on Magnolia Street early Thursday morning claiming residents had received threats from a neighbor.

“Once the officers arrived and spoke to the complainants, they didn’t want to press charges and didn’t give a whole lot of information,” Wiley said. “That was the end of it for us at that point.”

Wiley said officers later got a call of a house fire at 9 a.m. at the same address.

“It appeared (the fire) had been set, so we started looking for this guy the neighbors told us about,” Wiley said. “Then we found out he was wanted out of Arizona.”

VPD officers later responded to a call from a resident saying they had seen a suspicious person behind the junior high school on Gillespie Street. The search then changed to a Cowan Street house in Ridgecrest where another caller said Schickel was hiding.

“We surrounded the house, made entry and found that no one was inside,” Wiley said. “As we were finishing up there, another call came in that placed the suspect at a Lower Levee Road home.”

The Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team (SRT) and Ferriday Police Department officials gathered at the Pentecostals of the Miss-Lou Church at 1:15 p.m. to gather more information regarding Schickel’s location.

“We were told that he had gotten a ride from Cowan Street to Lower Levee Road, so we went over there and made entry with the SRT,” CPSO Capt. Jack Fletcher said. “Before we got there, he had come out of the house and was running down different streets in Ferriday.”

CPSO Lt. John Mitchell and FPD Capt. Rickey Hollins chased Schickel at down Concordia Avenue in Ferriday at 2 p.m. before he gave up and fell to the ground.

Schickel was handcuffed and placed into a CPSO police cruiser as Sheriff Kenneth Hedrick and Chief Deputy David Hedrick thanked all the law enforcement officials for their contributions.

“This just goes to show you what we can do when departments come together and work together,” David Hedrick said as he gathered everyone for a prayer. “Thank you to everyone for your hard work, and we thank God no one was hurt today.”

Schickel was taken to the Concordia Parish courthouse to be booked into the computer system, but was then transported to Concordia Parish Correctional Facility on Louisiana 15.

Fletcher said Schickel gave a Ferriday address when he was booked, which could be where a relative lives.

“He’s not from Ferriday, and we haven’t questioned him to find out whose address that is,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher said Schickel would remain there until VPD investigators determined which crimes Schickel would be charged with in Vidalia.

Wiley said investigators were still looking into the alleged arson, but that Schickel would be charged with flight from an officer.

Commander Larry Irwin from the La Paz Sheriff’s Office said Schickel’s warrants were issued on March 25.

“He hadn’t been here long at all, but from what I understand he committed some pretty serious crimes,” Irwin said. “We’re always looking for anybody that’s committed felonies that are substantial, and he’s got some substantial felony charges with a prior criminal history.”

Irwin said his department would likely wait and see what the charges and sentence will be for any Louisiana charges before they decided to extradite Schickel back to Arizona.

“If he’s found guilty on the charges there, he’s going to do his sentence, and we’re likely not going to do anything while he’s in jail there,” Irwin said. “We’re not going to touch him unless a court hearing comes up or something.”