Man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails to set fires in Spokane Valley neighborhood

A 36-year-old man threatened his roommates, lit their house on fire and proceeded on a Molotov cocktail arson spree that burned his neighbors’ houses, cars and property over the weekend in Spokane Valley, according to court documents.

Cody J. Jensen was charged with multiple counts of arson, malicious placement of explosives, and malicious mischief after the early Saturday crime spree that ended with a deputy using a stun gun on the defendant. No one was injured in the fires.

The alleged spree started with Jensen kicking open his two sleeping roommates’ door inside their residence at 7312 E. Fourth Ave., one roommate told deputies. Jensen told them, “If I’m done, you’re done too,” according to a roommate.

The roommates told deputies Jensen had recently lost ownership of the house. One of the roommates said Jensen had poured gasoline inside the residence a month prior and told him and the other roommate, “Next time I’m going to finish the job.”

On Saturday, Jensen went to his room and returned holding bottles filled with gasoline, a roommate said in documents. Jensen lit several of the bottles with a torch and threw them on the ground, according to one of the roommates.

Deputies reported the home was engulfed in flames when they arrived.

The roommates said they believed Jensen was trying to kill them, and they escaped the house with their dogs, court records say.

Meanwhile, a neighbor told deputies she was asleep when she woke up to an explosion about 3:20 a.m. She went outside and saw her cousin’s Subaru Impreza and a flower bed next to the house on fire. She used the hose to extinguish both fires. A beer bottle with a rag inside appeared to ignite those fires, according to documents.

Jensen also used a glass bottle with a towel in it to start a fire under another neighbor’s truck, according to documents. A deputy used a fire extinguisher to put out that fire.

Deputies collected a propane torch, knives and a fanny pack at a vacant house that also burned that morning.

Deputies saw Jensen running in the neighborhood and saw him using a torch to try to light a brush pile on fire near a residence, documents say. Jensen allegedly ignored commands to stop, and deputies used a stun gun to apprehend him.

Jensen made his first appearance Monday in Spokane County Superior Court. He is scheduled for an arraignment May 13 and remained Wednesday in the Spokane County Jail on a $550,000 bond.

Jensen is also facing drug charges stemming from the house he was living in and accused of burning over the weekend. The charges include possession of fentanyl and methamphetamine with intent to deliver and using the East Fourth Avenue home for unlawful drug purposes.

A Spokane Valley detective started surveilling the home last year because of multiple residents calling law enforcement to report drug activity throughout the day and night at the home, according to court documents.

Spokane Valley police received about 80 “cleared calls” for law enforcement services from the summer of 2023 to last summer, according to court records. During that time, there were multiple arrests and police contacts at the property, including abandoned vehicles, burglary, hazardous materials, multiple medics calls for drug overdoses, welfare checks, drugs and suspicious vehicles and people.