Quincy man, woman charged with arson
Local Crime News
EPHRATA - A Quincy man and woman were recently arrested and charged with arson in connection with a vehicle fire last year.
Abel Vargas, 21, was charged with arson and Liliana Alejandres, 19, was charged with accomplice to arson stemming from an October fire in the parking lot of Five Star Apartments in Moses Lake.
According to the court documents, Vargas and Alejandres were allegedly looking for the victim at his apartment complex, when neighbors came outside to tell them to leave. After leaving and returning several times, a witness allegedly saw Vargas park next to a black Jeep owned by the victim, stick his arm inside of that vehicle and leave after a fire started inside and around it.
When police and firefighters responded, they found the Jeep fully-engulfed in flames. When the fire was out, they noticed a brick in the passenger seat, where the fire appeared to have begun.
Following witness descriptions of a vehicle seen leaving the fire, police pulled over Vargas, who was driving a maroon Ford F-150 and Alejandres was in the passenger seat.
They denied being at the apartment complex, but witnesses later picked them from a photo lineup, stating they were at the apartment complex, hanging about the black Jeep moments before it was on fire.
One witness who knew Vargas, Alejandres and the victim alleged they were involved in a love triangle.
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