An one-time St. Paul police officer pleaded guilty Monday to causing a negligent fire at the building that housed his and his wife’s restaurant.

Prosecutors initially charged Tou Mo Cha, 56, with second-degree arson. That charge will be dismissed at sentencing. He admitted Monday to the negligent fire charge, which is also a felony.

Tou Mo Cha in a March 26, 2024, booking photo. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Cha is due to be sentenced in February. He faces 30 days in custody and $22,500 in restitution due before sentencing, but he could have to pay more later to the building’s owner, according to a court record.

The fire at Checker Board Pizza on Arcade Street at Jenks Avenue in St. Paul happened on Aug. 9, 2023, about 1:25 p.m. Law enforcement reviewed video from several cameras and saw a person, later identified as Cha, exiting Checker Board Pizza and then going into the building’s apartment entry, according to a criminal complaint. Cha walked away and the apartment entry started on fire.

The bar and upstairs portion of the building had been undergoing renovations for years, Cha said when he was charged earlier this year, adding that he still opened the kitchen for takeout and delivery before the fire.

When Cha was a St. Paul police officer, he was charged in 2004 with lending his department-issued handgun. The gun was used in a pair of drive-by shootings that targeted members of the Hmong community; no one was injured. Cha pleaded guilty to making terroristic threats in 2005 and resigned from the police force.

In 2019, Cha was sentenced to 90 days in jail for an assault outside Checker Board Pizza the year before.

The case was at the center of an incident that resulted in the firing of five St. Paul police officers.

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