SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane Police confirmed on Monday they arrested a man suspected of setting several 'suspicious' fires in the downtown area on Saturday.
Investigators say a total of four fires were lit by the suspect, 36-year-old Chad Horne on Saturday. Court documents show Horne set fires on Adams Street, Riverside and Walnut, Redband Park and Main Avenue.
The Spokane Police Department said bushes were burned near Adams, trees were burned near Main and a porta potty was burned near Cedar.
Documents showed that Horne also set a fire at Lil Bit Grooming in North Spokane on May 15. Court documents also showed that after Horne was arrested for the fire on May 15, on Saturday investigators matched the person in surveillance video to Horne with the help of employees at Hope House.
Series of suspicious fires near downtown Spokane
Horne made his first court appearance on Monday after being charged with two counts of arson and one count of reckless burning.
In court on Monday, Horne kept his head down and begged the judge for mercy. The judge told Horne to let his attorney speak.
Horne’s attorney said that Horne has almost no criminal history and was not in the right mind when setting the fires. The judge said Horne did set the fires with malicious intent.
Horne is held on $100,000 bail and scheduled to return to court on July 2.
None of the fires caused significant damage and firefighters were able to put them out quickly.
“These fires happened on Saturday, so had they happened on Sunday with those winds? [It] could have been a different story,” Justin De Ruyter with the Spokane Fire Department said.
WATCH RELATED: Up with KREM Headlines: Monday, June 24, 2024
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