Man pleads not guilty in Monroe apartment fire
Published 10:38 pm Saturday, November 3, 2007
A felon who allegedly was upset that his girlfriend left him pleaded not guilty Friday to a first-degree arson charge filed last week in Snohomish County Superior Court.
A judge set bail at $100,000 for Randy David Turner, 36, of Seattle.
He’s accused of setting a fire Oct. 19 inside the Monroe apartment rented by the former girlfriend, according to charging papers.
The Monroe Fire Department quickly extinguished the fire in the front room of the apartment unit. They found a yard-square burn pattern on the floor and an open can of lighter fluid, deputy prosecutor John Adcock said.
A Monroe police officer spotted smoke coming out of the window and doors at the apartment complex in the 100 block of West Hill Street, police said.
Turner was arrested Thursday with the help of a U.S. Marshal fugitive task force, police said.
The woman told authorities that Turner was upset that she broke up with him and made him move out of her apartment. On Oct. 19, she was told by an apartment manager that she would be evicted because Turner was always showing up and causing trouble, Adcock said.
According to charging papers, she told investigators she was about to leave with a load of her belongings when Turner told her: “If you leave, I’ll burn it down.”
She left and was en route to Marysville when she got a call that her apartment unit was on fire, Adcock said.
Turner previously was convicted of theft, assault and unlawfully having firearms. At the time of the fire, he was under state supervision for a second-degree assault conviction, Adcock said.
Reporter Jim Haley:
425-339-3447 or
jhaley@heraldnet.com.
