SPOKANE, Wash. — A woman charged in a series of arsons in Spokane in August was convicted this week.
The woman -- 53-year-old Vickie Smith -- was said to have started eight fires in the Sunset Highway/Hills area of Spokane on Aug. 3. She was convicted for first and second degree arson on Wednesday with a recommended sentence of 41 months in jail.
Smith spoke to KHQ from jail in September, where she said that God had told her to set the fires.
“God told me where to put these, places, these fires I had no clue, I had no clue all this was gonna happen,” she said, going on to add that God had “reassured” her that nothing would happen.
Court documents had previously revealed police had crossed paths with her in Spokane the day after the fires on a trespassing call, where she asked officers if “she was going to be arrested for lighting fires.” The responding officers didn’t arrest her at the time, though, as they were unaware of the nascent arson investigation.
It was only after security footage from a Spokane bank that showed Smith spray-painting graffiti threatening to “Burn Spokane down” when police reached out to her over email. In her response, she admitted to lighting eight fires in the region, and told police that she had left Spokane and was in the Seattle area.
She was arrested in Tukwila in mid-August, before eventually being extradited to Spokane. She’s been in jail Spokane County ever since.