Man Sentenced For Setting Fire At Church

Tue., June 20, 2000

By Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com

A Spokane man who admitted setting one of a half dozen fires at a Spokane Valley church was sentenced Monday to serve two years in federal prison.

Robin G. Lamont, 20, who dropped out of Ferris High School as a sophomore, admitted setting a fire July 1, 1999, at the church at 402 S. Coleman.

The church, previously called South Hill Baptist, is now Subud Pacific Northwest Church.

The fire Lamont admitted setting was a copycat crime of earlier arsons at the church, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Lister said.

Lamont has been in jail since his July 9 arrest.

He confessed shortly after his arrest, Lister said, telling investigators he set the fire because “it was a high” and gave him a rush of excitement.

Lamont faced a sentencing range of 30 to 37 months, but U.S. District Court Judge Frem Nielsen agreed to the lower sentence.

He gave Lamont credit for “acceptance of responsibility” under a complicated formula spelled out in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

Lamont was given the option of completing his prison term at a federal “boot camp,” but he declined. He was given credit for time served and will complete his sentence at a federal prison.

When he gets out, he must complete three years of supervised release and make $10,600 in restitution for fire damage at the church.

His court-appointed attorneys said they plan to appeal on the grounds that the church arson is not a federal crime.

Lister said investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms determined that Lamont does not know Ramiro Reyes Lopez, who was arrested Jan. 27 by ATF agents and Spokane Valley Fire Department arson investigators after a video camera recorded a man starting a fire at the church.

The first fire, on Sept. 28, 1998, caused an estimated $70,000 damage and briefly closed the church.

Reyes Lopez, 31, who worked at a Spokane restaurant, is undergoing psychiatric evaluation at a federal institution.

He admitted setting the fire captured on video and two others at the church. Investigators said he told them he was motivated by a hatred of God.

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