Investigators looking for cause of string of fires
SEATTLE -- Seattle fire officials spent Sunday investigating a string of seven blazes that damaged a condominium complex, a cafe, two homes, a garage and a car dealership overnight.
At least five of the fires were deliberately set in the Lake City section of North Seattle, the fire department said. Investigators had not had a chance to examine the damage done at the other two more serious fires, at a condo complex under construction on Phinney Ridge and at a home in the University District.
The fires came one week after a fire destroyed an apartment building being built in the Wallingford neighborhood, causing $2.75 million in damage.
Mayor Greg Nickels, Fire Chief Gregory Dean and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske held a news conference to announce that police would be keeping an eye on construction sites throughout the city.
"We're not going to speculate on who this might be," Nickels said. "But we will find them and we will bring them to justice."
Fire department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was called in to assist in the investigation.
Police arrest peep suspect
EUGENE, Ore. -- The manager of store in a local mall has been arrested after he allegedly spied on a woman undressing.
Eugene police said they believe 28-year-old Jesus Manuel Trinidad spied on the customer as she was disrobing by climbing a ladder in the back room and peering through a crack he created in a drop ceiling above the dressing room at Wilson's Leather.
Trinidad was cited and released Friday on a misdemeanor charge of violating the privacy of another. Police know of only one victim, but they expect others to come forward, said Sgt. Jim McBride.
After learning of the arrest, Valley River Center security has barred Trinidad from mall property, including Wilson's Leather, pending an internal investigation, mall manager Don Foster said.
The woman alerted police shortly after the incident last week and said she took some garments into the dressing room to try on, McBride said. When she heard noises coming from a storage room on the opposite side of the wall, she looked up and noticed a spot where the light fixture had been pried away from the ceiling tiles.
When she left the dressing room, the manager was nowhere to be found until he emerged from the adjacent storage room, police said.
"She just felt really weird about it," McBride said. "Her intuition kicked in."
