Palmer police nab 3 arsonists

PALMER — A cellphone left at the scene made for a relatively short investigation for Palmer police looking into the torching of a storage shed.

“It was a storage shed on some property that was purchased by the airport,” said Detective Sgt. Shayne LaCroix with the Palmer Police Department. “At the time it was just storing old seismograph paper and equipment.”

Not full seismographs, he said, more like spare parts. Press releases indicate the shed was set ablaze on Nov. 1. Police had arrested someone by Nov. 13.

“It was fairly quick. Officers located a cellphone on scene when they first arrived at the fire,” LaCroix said. “Based on that we were able to develop a person of interest and upon speaking to him he admitted to not only being involved, but also to starting the fire.”

That person is Montgomery Woody, 19, of Palmer. LaCroix said Woody told police there were two people with him; Justin Barker, 23, of Palmer and a 14-year-old Palmer boy.

Police talked to them and both admitted to being there, talking about setting the shed on fire and knowing that Woody lit a fire as they left.

LaCroix said that the fire was started with just the materials in the shed; namely, the seismograph paper.

“They threw a bunch of the paper around and lit the paper on fire,” LaCroix said.

The shed at the corner of Fireweed and Gulkana was 10-foot by 16-foot and was a complete loss after the fire. Police estimate its worth at $10,000.

LaCroix said everyone seemed to have the same idea of what the motivation was.

“They stated that the building is often used by kids to do illegal acts and so they thought they would burn it down so kids would not get in trouble using the building any longer,” LaCroix said.

LaCroix sent arson and trespassing charges to the district attorney against Woody and Barker. Similar charges were sent to Juvenile Intake against the 14-year-old.

Neither adult had yet been formally charged in court as of Monday morning.

Palmer police are also in the middle of a much larger arson investigation looking into a suspicious fire that burned the old Matanuska Maid warehouse to the ground in early August.

LaCroix said Monday he believes that and the shed burning are unrelated.

“At this time I do not believe there is a connection,” he said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.