Wasilla man arrested in alleged fire for hire case

PALMER -- A 19-year-old Wasilla man was back in jail this week on first-degree arson charges for allegedly burning up a woman's vehicle at the request of an inmate he met while being held at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on previous charges.

Last week Jordan Olmsted was released from jail where he had been held after being charged on three counts of theft for allegedly taking a 2001 Arctic Cat snowmachine on Jan. 5.

After an Aug. 3 incident, he now faces arson, criminal mischief and criminal trespass charges and is back at MSPTF.

Wasilla police were called to the Best Western Lake Lucille just before 11 a.m. Aug. 3 for a report of a car fire. It was reported the car was on fire and exploding. The Wasilla fire department arrived and put out the fire, which destroyed the engine and most the car.

The vehicle's owner said she worked at the hotel. Her former boyfriend, Ed Wooley, had been threatening to burn her car "for some time now," she reportedly told police. Wooley, 35, is presently being held at MSPTF on theft and drug charges.

A witness called dispatch and reported seeing a young man run from the woman's vehicle and get in a blue Bronco just prior to the vehicle bursting into flames. The witness gave the license plate number to police officers.

An Alaska State Trooper stopped the blue Bronco a short time later at Mile 48 Parks Hwy. All three people in the vehicle were handcuffed, separated and taken to the Wasilla Police Department for questioning, according to a police report.

Olmsted allegedly admitted to police that he had set the fire. When he was in jail a few days before, he told officers, Wooley asked him to burn the woman's car when he was released. Wooley allegedly told Olmsted he would pay him $1,000 if he would do it, and if he didn't, he threatened to beat up Olmsted.

Olmsted told officers he was dropped off at the hotel by his third-party, court-appointed custodian then picked up a short time later, according to charging documents. He said he used a pop bottle filled with gas, and put a rag in the top for a fuse.

An Anchorage fire marshal confirmed the fire appeared to have been started by a plastic bottle filled with an accelerant.

Olmsted has a September trial date on the snowmachine theft charges, and is scheduled to appear in court later this month for a status hearing on the arson charges.