Trailer Owner Convicted Of Arson

A man who claimed masked men broke into his trailer house, sprayed it with gasoline and then set it on fire was convicted Friday of first-degree arson.

A Superior Court jury decided that David W. Janson set the fire himself. Janson, 42, could be sentenced to more than three years in prison.

The verdict came one year and one day after the trailer Janson shared with his two daughters in the University Mobile Home Park burned to its metal frame.

Janson and his 3- and 16-year-old daughters, who were asleep inside the trailer when the fire started, escaped injury.

Fire investigators expect Janson to be sentenced this week.

Eric Olson, a Spokane Valley Fire District investigator, said the fire was part of an arson-for-profit scheme that sought community support.

Janson, who did not have insurance on the trailer, intended to set up a charitable fund for his family, Olson said. He planned to use local news media to publicize the fund.

Investigators also linked Janson to four other fires - including two in the Valley - they believe he has set during the past 12 years.

Valley firefighters battled a blaze on March 12, 1995, that destroyed Janson’s trailer at space No. 11 of University Mobile Home Park, 9518 E. Fourth. Less than two weeks later, Janson’s space No. 38-1/2 trailer caught fire in the same park.

They were again called to space No. 38-1/2 to fight the April fire.

Two homes Janson owned in Tekoa, Wash., also burned in 1984 and 1985, Olson said.

Janson was not charged with a crime for any of those fires, but prosecutors were allowed to use them as evidence against him.

Fire investigators have long suspected Janson of setting those fires, Olson said. However, investigators could not determine a definite cause for the first Valley fire and did not investigate the second because damage was minimal.

, DataTimes