A run of serial arsons? Latest string adds to tally of incidents in the South Sound
Arson isn’t the most common crime in Tacoma and Pierce County, but it happens — typically in the form of single incidents driven by domestic disputes.
Serial arson of the sort suspected by Tacoma police this week after a string of 12 fires is rarer. The most recent example dates to October of last year, when six fires erupted over the course of three days. The largest of them severely damaged an office of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Parish.
The suspect in that case, 20-year-old Cameron Riley Prater, has been charged with one count of first-degree arson and five counts of second-degree arson. According to court records, investigators found Prater directly reported two of the fires and was listed in a third as a witness.
After his arrest, police asked Prater why he set the fires. He said he had seen others do it, that he was bored and thought it would be “cool and fun,” records state. His trial has been delayed while he undergoes a continuing evaluation of his mental competency.
An unrelated serial arson case in the South Sound targeted eight Jehovah’s Witness halls from Puyallup to Tumwater between 2018 and 2020, leading federal authorities to offer a $61,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. An Olympia man, Mikey Diamond Starrett, has been named as the prime suspect in those incidents, though the only charge against him is unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm.
Charging documents in Starrett’s case, filed in U.S. District Court, describe Starrett’s links to the incidents, including surveillance video footage and devices he owned and controlled.
The records also state that numerous friends and family told law enforcement that Starrett told them he was “haunted by spirits who told him to do bad things.” They further allege the man believes these spirits are the dead Jehovah’s Witness relatives of an ex-girlfriend and he hates the religion.
A separate fire set last year at The Islamic Center of Tacoma on Bridgeport Way led to charges of first-degree arson against Angel Joseph Rodriguez, who allegedly had been posting religious and government conspiracy-related content on Facebook before the incident. Rodriguez has not been charged in connection with any other local fires. Like Prater, his trial has been delayed while he undergoes a continuing evaluation of mental competency.
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 3:28 PM.