Suspected Soap Lake arsonists arrested Wednesday

By EMRY DINMAN

Staff Writer

SOAP LAKE - A woman and a juvenile male suspected of intentionally causing at least five fires in the Soap Lake area, destroying an unoccupied home and a number of outbuildings, have been arrested following a joint operation of law enforcement and the local fire district.

Alexandra Lee Gray, 21, of Ephrata, was arrested along with a 17-year-old male in connection with the fires, and other suspects have been identified, said Kyle Foreman, a spokesman for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

Gray is currently facing four counts of second-degree arson and four counts of second-degree burglary. The juvenile male has been charged with five counts of second-degree arson and five counts of second-degree burglary.

The first fire was reported on April 10 and the most recent related fire was May 28, according to a press release. At least five buildings were burned as a result of the alleged arson, though none of the structures were occupied.

Law enforcement currently believes Gray and the others involved weren’t spurred by a vendetta against nearby property owners, but were committing crimes of opportunity in a remote location.

Kirk Sheppard, chief of Grant County Fire District No. 7, which serves the Soap Lake area, has suspected for weeks that the fires may have been the result of arson, and thanked the law enforcement agencies for catching Gray and her accomplices.

“(Arsonists) start small and get bigger, so I’m elated that they’ve got them and now the community can rest a little easier,” said Sheppard.

Grant County Fire District No. 7, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the Soap Lake Police Department all worked together to produce Wednesday’s arrest, according to a press release.

Arsons are difficult crimes to solve, Foreman said, and Gray and the juvenile male were caught due to teamwork between different agencies and a tip from a concerned citizen. Officers set up surveillance cameras in the general area, which picked up a suspicious car driving into the area where the fires were occurring. A local resident, seeing a suspicious car in a remote area, wrote down the vehicle’s license plate number.

Following an interview, law enforcement determined that Gray and the juvenile male were responsible for at least five fires in the 27000 block of Road A-Northeast and the 1600 block of Road 27-Northeast, Foreman said. More arrests are reportedly pending.

“There was a great amount of time spent on this investigation due to the concern that the fire setters might evolve to igniting occupied buildings,” said Sheriff Tom Jones in a press release. “The cooperation between investigators and the public helped close this case before anybody was hurt, including the suspects.”