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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Crime Greenwood Arson Suspect Charged with 12 Felonies, Prosecutors Seek 36 Years in Prison

Posted by Dominic Holden on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 2:10 PM

King County prosecutors are charging the suspected Greenwood arsonist, Kevin Todd Swalwell, with a dozen criminal counts for a rash of recent fires and explosions in the Greenwood neighborhood. The standard sentencing range for the charges—three counts of arson in the first degree and eight in second degree, plus one second-degree burglary charge—is 10 to 12 years. "However, prosecutors intend to seek an exceptional sentence above the standard range because of the seriousness and the number of different charges," says King County Prosecutor's office spokesman Dan Donohoe. "We will ask for 36 years, based on the seriousness of the case and his past convictions."

Among the charges, Swalwell is accused of setting fires to Green Bean Coffee House, O-Rings West, Rosewood Guitars, and residences. I've saved the charging document and certification of probable cause (in this 2.5 meg .pdf) for geeks who like reading that sort of stuff. Swalwell is scheduled for an arraignment hearing on December 1 in the King County Courthouse.

Comments (5) RSS

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Only a decade? If he's only 56 when he gets out, won't he just go start more fires?

Posted by elenchos on November 17, 2009 at 2:21 PM

Unfortunately arsonists are difficult, if not impossible, to cure. Fingers crossed they keep an eye on him when he gets out on good behavior in 6 years.

Posted by mitten on November 17, 2009 at 2:28 PM

Do we not have a "three strikes" law in WA?? This guy is what it was made for!

Posted by Jakey on November 17, 2009 at 4:14 PM

I have seen making restitution a condition of parole before and offenders sent back to jail for failure to make adequate payments. This on top of 20 years would work for me. How much damage has he done, a million or so? He couldn't even pay the intrest pressing plates and mowing the lawn with hand mowers in Monroe. I guess since pyromania is more of a mentle ilness I should feel more forgiving but I don't, especially since it harder to cure than crack addiction.

Posted by wl on November 17, 2009 at 4:37 PM

But at least this guy figured out a GREAT use for the Stranger!

Police: Arsonist used Stranger, Weekly to start fires

The suspected Greenwood arsonist appears to be a fan of alternative weeklies, according to court documents released Tuesday.

Police said in one of three lengthy admissions, Kevin Todd Swalwell, 46, told detectives that when he burned a convenience store on Nov. 9, he brought copies of the Stranger, and ignited one with cardboard.

Investigators said that was his third fire in less than 10 hours. It was quickly extinguished after it caused about $500 in damage.

But Swalwell isn't exclusively a Stranger guy.

Swalwell
Police said when he burned a three-story house at 7708 Greenwood Ave. N. – an Aug. 12 fire Swalwell allegedly admitted setting – he ignited the blaze by folding a copy of the Seattle Weekly in the rafters.

That blaze happened about 1:30 p.m. and was extinguished by a woman with a garden hose. It cased about $100 in damage, but a fire about an hour later allegedly started by Swalwell injured a man and caused an estimated $170,000 damage to his home.

The Seattle Weekly detail was included in a police incident report. In court documents, it's described as a wadded-up newspaper.

Swalwell, who has been charged with 11 arsons, most often used materials found at the scene of his fires, according to court documents. Read more here.

Posted by Hacks R Us on November 17, 2009 at 4:39 PM