The Centralia man accused of setting fire to the Northwest Property Managers building in Chehalis early Tuesday morning was still at the scene when police arrived, and he told investigators he wanted to “re-balance things” as he sought “martyrdom,” according to court documents.
Jeffrey David Post, 54, made his initial appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon on charges of second-degree arson and second-degree burglary, both class B felonies punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
Judge Paul Strophy set bail at $250,000 and appointed Don Blair as Post’s defense attorney. His arraignment was held Thursday morning. Post remains in the Lewis County Jail.
Chehalis police were dispatched to a burglary alarm at the business, located at 1646 S. Market Boulevard, at 3:07 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22. A subsequent fire alarm triggered a response from the Chehalis Fire Department.
The first-arriving officer observed a man standing at the driver’s side of a white Ford Ranger at the scene. He also saw that the glass front door of the business, which was formerly TJ Guyer Property Management, had been shattered and there was black smoke billowing out.
The officer asked the male — later identified as Post — if he had started the fire.
“Mr. Post admitted to setting the fire because the property manager made him homeless after his other residence on Borst Avenue had burned,” the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office wrote in the affidavit of probable cause.
The officer then detained Post and secured him in his patrol vehicle.
Chehalis police officers determined the blaze was too severe for them to handle, so they waited for the fire department to respond.
The Chehalis Fire Department — with assistance from the Riverside Regional Fire Authority, Fire District 6 and Fire District 5 — knocked the fire down by about 3:30 a.m. and had it fully extinguished by 3:45 a.m., according to police.
An officer spoke to Post again and read his Miranda warning. Post agreed to speak with him, according to court documents, and stated he had typed out a letter in his hotel room at the La Quinta in Centralia.
“Mr. Post stated he had a shotgun in his vehicle and stated his plan was to set fire to the business and then implied he intended to take his own life,” the affidavit of probable cause states. “(The officer) asked to clarify if he was going to commit suicide or was suicidal, and he corrected (the officer) by referring to it as ‘martyrdom.’”
Post was later interviewed at the Chehalis Police Department.
“He admitted to breaking the window to the front door and then to going in and splashing kerosene on the desks,” the affidavit states. “Mr. Post stated he used a lighter, but the kerosine would not light so he switched to lighting paper on fire, which then ignited the kerosine and ‘finally got it started.’ Mr. Post stated he did it to ‘re-balance things’ and that he wanted to ‘send them the message that they sent me.”
He was booked into jail at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday.
Court documents list Post’s address as “transient” but included his city of residence as Centralia.
