Man accused of setting fires in Lacey near homeless camp

LACEY –– Police arrested a man on accusations of intentionally setting fires near a Lacey homeless encampment and buildings. The man was charged with first-degree arson and is being held on $100,000 bail.

Joshua A. Sweet, 33, appeared in Thurston County Superior Court for a preliminary hearing Monday afternoon — where an attorney with the Thurston County Office of Public Defense argued Sweet should have been held on a lesser amount due to a small amount of evidence linking him to the crime.

According to a probable cause affidavit, on Sunday first responders were dispatched to two brush fires in Lacey — one near the Chehalis Western Trail and the other in the 400 block of Sleater Kinney Road Southeast, about 40 yards from a homeless encampment.

Police note in their reports that the day was the hottest of the year and the area was under a heat warning. The conditions were prime for a fire to spread quickly, with the brush dry and easily ignited. Local firefighters arrived in minutes and were able to extinguish the fires quickly. Scorch marks left from the fire nearest the homeless encampment indicated the blaze was about 30 feet long when it was put out.

A witness told police they saw a man — later identified as Sweet — crouched down with a lighter, trying to set a bush on fire. The witness, who was driving on Sleater Kinney Road when they said they saw Sweet, approached him in a parking lot and gave chase on foot. The suspect outran the witness, but the witness later confirmed that Sweet was the person they saw.

Another witness — a person patrolling the area for a local security company — said they saw a person who they later identified as Sweet, standing near the fire and apparently taking a video of it with his phone. Police say they didn’t find a phone on Sweet.

Police found Sweet walking around the Sears building in the area, and stopped him. They informed him he matched the description of an arson suspect, but Sweet denied starting any fires. He was taken into custody.

During a hearing in Thurston County Superior Court Monday afternoon with Judge John Skinner presiding, Deputy Prosecutor Rosemary Hewitson requested Sweet be held on $100,000 bail. She outlined the severity of the allegations, saying Sweet demonstrated a disregard for human life, given how close the fire was to the encampment.

Danielle Walker, the public defense attorney who represented Sweet during the hearing, requested he be held on $5,000 bail. She said it seems the evidence tying Sweet to the crime is fairly limited — hinging mainly on someone driving past and seeing Sweet. She also noted that he has a limited history of warrants being written for his arrest for failing to appear to hearings.

Skinner decided Sweet would be held on the higher amount, saying it wasn’t his role to decide the strength of the evidence — which would instead occur during later hearings — but to weigh the severity of the allegations.

He has an arraignment hearing scheduled for Sept. 1.