A western Wisconsin couple is charged with arson months after their restaurant was damaged in a fire.

Fire crews were called to the Hog Wild BBQ and Smokehouse Restaurant in Salon Springs around 8:50 p.m. on June 10, according to the criminal complaint filed in Douglas County.

On the morning of the fire, the husband was captured on one of the restaurant's 14 surveillance cameras taking out money from all the gambling machines at the bar. The complaint says he then walked into the back office and covered the camera in that room with a Post-it note. He then left the restaurant a few minutes later.

Surveillance video then captured him returning to the restaurant with his wife at 8:23 p.m. The wife took out some paperwork and envelopes from the office, and then the husband went back into the office briefly before the two drove away from the restaurant, the complaint states.

Three minutes later, video captures smoke in the bar area, which is connected the office, documents say.

In an interview with law enforcement, the husband said he and his wife had purchased the property in 2013, and opened it in 2020 after making renovations. He said he and his wife were at the restaurant that evening to drop off inventory items, and left around 8:10 p.m. He denied starting any fire.

The wife told police in an interview that she had grabbed paperwork from the office, and then drove home with her husband. She claimed not to know how the fire started, the complaint says.

According to the complaint, investigators determined the fire "was caused by the deliberate application of an open flame to available combustibles."

Court documents also say that the building was insured through July 14, but the company had issued a non-renewal notice in May, saying that the restaurant's age, construction type and lack of sprinkler did not meet their guidelines. The couple filed a claim for the fire on June 11.

The complaint also states that while searching the couple's house, investigators found three potted plants that smelled of fresh marijuana. 

The husband and wife were each charged with one count of arson and one count of manufacturing THC. Their next court appearance is set for Nov. 19.