NEAR TUKWILA, Wash. - A couple is charged with intentionally setting fire to their own apartment complex in order to collect more than $25,000 in renters insurance.
Christopher Alan Garcia and Jennifer Joy Bennett are charged with First Degree Arson for the fire that tore through the Whisperwoods apartment complex located at 11838 26th Avenue South.
On May 27, the fire started in Bennett's ground floor unit and quickly spread to the entire building. Officials estimate the damage at more than $1 million.
The fire left 11 residents without a home. Kathleen Jimerson lost her apartment and belongings to the fire.
"I don't have nothing," said Jimerson.
Prosecutors say Bennett and Garcia used an igniteable liquid in a combustible satchel bag and placed it on top of an energized halogen light. Neighbors said the smoke detector in the burning unit never went off and that Bennett and Garcia did not notify them that their apartment was burning
Monica Larry is surprised one of the former tenants is charged with the crime. Larry lives just one building away and she says that is "surprising to hear they would go to such an extent to endanger other people that way. That is sad"
According to charging papers, Garcia's relative called 911 to tip investigators off to the crime. That relative told authorities that Garcia owed a lot of money to drug dealers.
According to court papers, three weeks before the fire, Bennett moved many of her valuables out of the complex to protect them from being burned.
Garcia and Bennett received more than $25,000 from Farmers Insurance. The couple purchased renters insurance just two months prior to the arson.
Both Garcia and Bennett are being held at the King County Jail.
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