Wood, 29, of Fort Dodge, pleaded guilty to second-degree arson, a Class C felony, during a hearing in Webster County District Court early Monday afternoon.

He was originally set to go to trial today.

While he told Chief Judge Kurt Wilke, of the 2nd Judicial District, that he wanted to plead guilty to the arson charge, Wood admitted that he had no memory of setting fire to the Little John’s Root Beer stand on June 2, where it was set up on the grounds of the Fort Museum for Frontier Days.

Wood told Wilke that he was high on methamphetamine at the time of the incident, which happened around 1 a.m.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter Timothy Wood, left, listens during his guilty plea hearing in Webster County District Court as his attorney, Jason Carlstrom, of Des Moines, listens at right. Wood pleaded guilty to arson in connection with burning down a root beer tent earlier this year.

He said the only part of the night he remembered was being in the back of a Fort Dodge police cruiser.

Wilke asked Wood’s attorney, Jason Carlstrom, if there was any defense he had for his client.

“Your honor, other than well-crafted defense arguments, no,” Carlstrom said. “The only real defense we have is his lack of recollection.”

Otherwise, Carlstrom said the investigation he conducted revealed no evidence that could be used to successfully defend his client.

Ryan Baldridge, first assistant Webster County attorney, told Wilke that if the case went to trial, a witness, Ryan Buman, of Des Moines, would have testified that he saw the fire inside of the tent and that he saw Wood run out of the tent, turn around and look at it before running away.

Baldridge added that Robert Williams, an employee of Little John’s Root Beer, would have testified that when he and another employee left the tent, there was nothing inside that would have caused the fire to start accidentally.

“There was nothing in that tent that could combust on its own,” Baldridge said.

He also said Fort Dodge Fire Chief Steve Hergenreter would have testified that he conducted an investigation that also showed there was nothing in that tent that would have caused an accidental fire, which was ruled an arson.

It was also discovered that Wood had a cigarette lighter on him after he was detained by police. A second cigarette lighter was found in the tent.

Saying “the evidence is overwhelming” that Wood set the fire, Wilke accepted the guilty plea.

Although Carlstrom indicated that his client was ready to proceed immediately to sentencing, Wilke instead scheduled the hearing for Sept. 5. The judge said he wanted to give Wood the opportunity to think about the hearing as well as have the Department of Corrections prepare a pre-sentence investigation report.

Wood will remain in jail on $16,000 bond.

The day of the fire, June 2, was the same day Frontier Days began. Little John’s Root Beer was preparing to serve Frontier Days visitors during the celebration that weekend.