A woman has been arrested after a porta-potty fire in Raymond on Nov. 2. The incident unfolded at 7:23 p.m. on Nov. 2 at the CFN Gas Station located on Franklin Street in downtown Raymond.
Fire crews and the Raymond Police Department responded to the scene. Units discovered a porta-potty had been set on fire. A driver who was filling up at the station reportedly watched the woman exit the porta-potty and flee.
“[The witness] stated something along the lines of ‘he pulled into the gas station, and she was f***ing around,’” RPD Officer Rikki Changala stated in court documents. “‘I thought she was smoking weed in their cause there was some smoke coming out.’”
The woman reportedly walked out of the porta-potty fanning smoke and walked off toward Steve’s Front End, an auto repair shop. She was identified as wearing “all black with possibly long hair and carrying a bag.”
RPD Officer Ivy Stafford located a female matching the description at the Raymond Post Office on Duryea Street a few blocks away. She was identified as Rachel M. Earls, 41, and it turned out she had a misdemeanor arrest warrant.
“I spoke briefly with Earls to see if she was in the area of the CFN, she said she was not,” Changala stated. “She said she had gone to the store then was at Village Green Apartments. I advised Earls that we have [a] camera over that way and asked her if the cameras would show her over that way; she said ‘today?’”
“I said in the last 15 minutes, she said ‘No, not in the last 15 minutes.’ Officer Fuller asked if she was over that way in the last hour, she said ‘In that area? I did walk up that way, yes.’ Earls states she was coming from her mom’s and just walked by. She denied stopping or going into the porta-potty,” Changala added.
According to court documents, the fire was 15-20 yards from the fuel pumps. The investigation determined the fire started on the left side of the porta-potty.
“I asked Earls if she went into the porta potty, she said, ‘I went by it,’” Changala stated. “I advised Earls I was giving her the chance now before we pull cameras to let us know if it was her, she said ‘I’m definitely not an arsonist.’”
Officers acquired footage of the area the following day and observed Earls around the time of the incident — including when the witness pulled into the gas station. She was observed wearing the same attire that the witness noted and when she was located by officers.
Earls was apprehended Nov. 4. She was arrested and booked into Pacific County Jail for first-degree reckless burning. She is being held in lieu of $10,000.
