LINCOLN -- A 36-year-old Lincoln man is set for sentencing after pleading no contest last week to intentionally setting fires that destroyed a vacant home on the west end of the city and a golf course storage shed on the southeast edge.

Cory Cramm could get up to 30 years in prison on two counts of second-degree arson, burglary and possession of a destructive device.

He pleaded no contest.

In a search warrant, Nick Heitman, an investigator with the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office, outlined the monthslong investigation that dated back to the night of Oct. 18, when a loud explosion had been heard in the area of Pioneers Boulevard and 98th Street.

The explosion and fire in the ditch were caught on a nearby surveillance camera, followed by the sound of a small-engine bike speeding away.

Then came a fire Jan. 2 at 6300 W. Holdrege St.

A trail camera caught a man in a Carhartt coat, said to be Camm, arriving on an electric bike at 3:11 a.m. Three minutes later, a fireball erupted from the home and quickly engulfed it.

The owner, John Moser, estimated the loss to the home at 6300 W. Holdrege St., which was being used as storage, and its contents at $350,000.

He didn't have insurance.

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The day of the fire, Chief Deputy Lancaster County Sheriff Ben Houchin said they were "100% sure" it had been an arson.

On Jan. 9, just a week later, Lincoln police began investigating two arsons late along the Rock Island bike trail and Helen Boosalis Trail, one of which involved a makeshift explosive device near the bridge across Nebraska Parkway with multiple rounds of Hornady 3000 blackout ammunition and a burnt plastic bottle that smelled strongly of rubbing alcohol and an older iPhone, the only thing damaged.

Three days later, firefighters were called out to NuMark Golf Course, near South 84th Street and Pioneers Boulevard, about a maintenance building on fire.

The shed and the equipment inside were a total loss, with an estimated replacement value of $1.25 million.

Investigators said evidence pointed to Cramm.

A search of his home Jan. 15 turned up checkbooks that belonged to Moser, the owner of the house on Holdrege, and Moser's niece and checks written to Cramm.

Investigators came to believe Cramm had taken them from the home before starting the fire.

The search also turned up an electric bike, like the one seen on the trail camera.

And Cramm's former roommate told investigators he admitted to her that he had started the NuMark fire.

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