Charges expected in Seattle arson spree

SEATTLE — King County prosecutors are expected to file charges today against a 46-year-old homeless man suspected of setting fires in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood.

Kevin Todd Swalwell was arrested Friday by members of an arson task force responding to a three-alarm fire at a vacant furniture store in Shoreline, north of Seattle.

Authorities say there have been 17 arsons in the Greenwood neighborhood in the past two months, including an Oct. 23 blaze that burned four restaurants and caused $2 damage. A fire in August seriously injured a man.

The state Department of Corrections said Swalwell has two previous convictions for arson and was released from prison in November 2008 after serving time for drug possession.

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