PORT ANGELES — A woman with a history of mental health issues was in the Clallam County jail late Monday afternoon on $250,000 bail for allegedly setting two fires inside her house, one while her mother was asleep.
A Class A felony charge of first-degree arson will be filed at a 1 p.m. hearing Wednesday against Katrina Sherie Spears, 42, Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols told Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson on Monday.
Nichols said the woman’s daughter was recently released from 17 years of commitment at Western State Hospital.
Erickson said she set the $250,000 bail “to ensure community safety.”
Spears’ 63-year-old mother was in the courtroom.
“I would like to visit her and see her and talk to her,” the woman told Erickson.
Clallam County Fire District 3 personnel were dispatched to a fire at the Narrow Way Sequim-area home at about 9:16 p.m. Sunday, according to the probable cause statement.
After Spears’ mother called 9-1-1, firefighters discovered flames in her daughter’s bedroom.
They had engulfed the bed and spread to the carpet and items around the base.
They also found a fire smoldering on a couch in the living room, according to the probable cause statement.
Spears’ mother earlier had thrown a couch blanket that had been set afire outside, according to the statement.
The mother told Sequim Police Officer Paul Dailidenas that she and her daughter were watching TV when she dozed off.
The woman awoke to a smoke-detector alarm.
The woman’s daughter told her there was a fire in the bedroom, according to the statement.
The mother ran next door to call 9-1-1, and when she returned saw the blanket on the back of the couch where she was sitting on fire.
Katrina Spears said in an interview at the Sequim Police Department that she set the fires to collect insurance money, according to the statement.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
