Suspect charged with arson and assault

OTHELLO – Arson and assault charges have been filed on a suspect arrested Monday, August 24.

Thomas Landon Hoover, 42, was booked into Adams County Jail on charges of Arson in the Second Degree and Assault in the Fourth Degree.

According to court documents, dispatch advised law enforcement of an alleged arson at 2310 West Sutton Road in Othello at 9:46 a.m., where a truck was reported to be on fire. Dispatch advised the subject may be armed. When a deputy arrived on scene, a witness advised he had been assaulted by Hoover, and that Hoover was in possession of firearms, according to court documents.

While law enforcement officials were located at the trailer Hoover was thought to be inside, reports came in of several fires being started south of the trailer, and a subject matching Hoover’s description running from where the fires had been started, according to court documents.

When deputies located Hoover, he allegedly admitted to starting the fires with a butane torch, which was taken into evidence. He said he started a fire in an Igloo cooler, in a truck, before leaving the location and walking past a gravel pit where he started a fire near some heavy equipment, according to court documents.

Hoover allegedly left the scene when the fire got too big and walked for an hour before starting another fire on top of a ridge. Court documents state Hoover again left the scene when this fire also became too big. Hoover told law enforcement officers he walked for another hour before deputies caught up with him in an armored vehicle, according to court documents.

The person responsible for the range land the fires were burning on was contacted and he advised there were no cattle on the grounds at the time, but it is used as cattle range, according to official documents.