Suspect in Portage Bay marina arson that destroyed 58 boats makes court appearance

SEATTLE — A person accused of committing arson on Seattle’s Portage Bay pleaded not responsible in court docket on Thursday.

Arthur Arakelov, 32, is accused of beginning a fireplace on the Seattle Boat Firm that destroyed 58 boats and brought about greater than $8.5 million of injury.

Arakelov’s bail was maintained at $100,000.

His trial is about to start on Could 25. He additionally has one other court docket listening to in late April.

Seattle police say a person was present in a ship docked close to the fireplace and was detained by Seattle law enforcement officials. The person was later recognized by the Arson Bomb Squad as a suspect. That suspect is Arakelov.

Theodore Hastings, the lawyer for Arakelov, supplied the next assertion to KIRO 7:

“When one thing as devastating and tragic as this fireplace happens, the pure and comprehensible response is to attempt to make sense of the mindless, which frequently consists of assigning blame. On this case we merely ask the neighborhood to keep away from a rush to judgement. I’m assured when all of the proof comes out it will likely be clear Mr. Arakelov didn’t knowingly and maliciously set this fireplace, however reasonably was nearly a sufferer of it himself. Each our hearts exit to everybody who was impacted.”

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