Man accused of lighting fire outside downtown Spokane police precinct

A 28-year-old man set fire to a bin early Monday morning outside the Spokane Police Department’s downtown precinct, damaging the building and melting Internet and telecommunications lines which caused internet outages, according to court documents.

Johnathon L. Stapleton was arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson and was jailed in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

A Spokane police sergeant was in the building on Wall Street and Riverside Avenue when the building’s fire alarm system activated at about 6:20 a.m., court records say. He went to the basement where he noticed smoke coming inside through the basement’s doors.

He then went to the alley and found a fire burning in a bin of combustible materials, he wrote in documents. The fire burned against the side of the building and required firefighters to extinguish it.

The sergeant reviewed the precinct’s security footage from the alley and saw a person, later identified as Stapleton, walk into the alley, light a fire in the bin and walk away. About 30 minutes later, Stapleton walked back in the alley, looked in the bin as if he was checking on the fire and left the alley again, according to documents.

The Internet and phone lines that were attached to the building burned, causing Internet outages downtown that required crews to repair.

The suspect’s photo and description went out to officers, who arrested Stapleton about three hours after the fire at the Spokane Transit Authority Plaza across the street from the downtown police precinct, according to documents.

An officer found burned paper and lighters on Stapleton, the officer wrote in documents.

Stapleton made his first appearance Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court and is set for an arraignment July 29.

Stapleton’s criminal history in Spokane County includes malicious mischief, assault, indecent exposure and protection order violations, records show.