A 48-year-old man arrested near the scene of two fires set in Pinehurst over the weekend has a history of arson.
Saturday afternoon, someone set fire in the basement of a vacant home scheduled for demolition in the 2200 block of NE 125th Street. The next day, police and firefighters were called to the scene of another blaze in the 12300 block of 16th ave NE. No one was injured in the fires, which caused $10,000 in damage.
Hours after the second fire, a neighbor, who lives just down the street from the scene of Sunday’s fire, found a man hiding inside of their home and called police. Police arrested the man at about 6:30 p.m. for criminal trespass, and booked him into the King County Jail.
Court records indicate the man arrested on Sunday was charged with arson and attempted murder in 2005 after he set fire to two different rooms at a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Des Moines.
According to court records, in September 2005 the man got into a fight with several other men staying in the facility and walked into one man’s at the treatment center and set fire to clothing in a closet. Two hours later, as arson investigators examined the scene of the fire, records say the man walked up to another window outside the facility, reached inside and set a bed on fire. He later threatened to kill two men he had argued with at the facility.
According to Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Renee Witt, the 48-year-old man is “not a suspect or person of interest at this time.” We’ve heard otherwise from a source familiar with the investigation, but that’s the official line for now. We’ll update if that changes.
