RAYMOND — Eight months after a fire on Alexander Road in Raymond, an arrest has been made by the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office. The fire has been ruled an arson, and several individuals have been implicated in an insurance scam.

Responders from Pacific County Fire District No. 3 (Menlo), Raymond Fire Department and South Bend Volunteer Fire Department responded to the report of a fully engulfed structure fire at 47 Alexander Road on Oct. 1, 2024, at 12:05 a.m.

The fire was reported just hours after another fully engulfed structure fire had occurred on 1475 Armstrong Road at 7 p.m. The fires were only about one mile apart and got the attention of investigators, considering that both structures were derelict.

“It took several hours for the fire to be controlled,” investigating PCSO Deputy Lucas Marthaller stated in court documents about the fire on Alexander Road. “While fighting the fire, Chief [Tyson] Wetteraurer of [PCFD3] fell through the floor, hitting the ground approximately three feet below. As he fell, he attempted to brace himself and sprained his wrist in the process.”

Investigation launched

According to court documents, fire investigators Randy Irwin and Brad Weatherby from Pacific County Fire District No. 1 investigated the scene with Marthaller the following day.

“During this search, we located a railroad tie that had been placed in the center of the residence, which was directly below where I had observed the main source of flame upon my initial arrival,” Marthaller stated. “Also, during this search, we located a motorcycle frame in a back room that was missing its engine and wheels.”

The trio seized numerous evidentiary items from the scene to be tested by the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for the presence of accelerants, which were later determined to have gasoline.

“Given that these samples were taken from the interior of the residence, as well as the aforementioned facts and circumstances, the cause of the fire was determined to be arson by both Irwin and Weatherbee,” Marthaller stated.

According to court documents, the property was purchased by Smitty Vargas, 50, on March 1, 2024, for $75,000. Vargas spoke briefly with investigators and informed them a tenant, Joellen Beatty, 38, was living at the residence and that a friend, George Collins, 60, was helping him clean up the property.

Marthaller interviewed Collins for the first time on Oct. 2, 2024.

“Collins stated that he had been doing work such as weed whacking [and] brush clearing,” Marthaller stated. “Collins stated that he did not go inside the residence very often and did not really know what was inside. He also mentioned Vargas had been paying him fairly steadily to work up at the property and that the two trade motorcycle parts as well.”

While later reviewing his body camera footage of the interview, Marthaller took note of a statement that Collins made about 10 minutes and 40 seconds into the footage. Collins, when discussing the payments and motorcycle trading between himself and Vargas, stated “I’m the one that got screwed when [Vargas] burned that place there because he’s paying me to clear all that land out.”

Sheriff’s office effort

Marthaller and PCSO Det. Kevin Acdal spoke to other individuals mentioned in the investigation and, on March 16, made a significant break in the case with the information provided by Judith Ayre, 45, who confirmed the fire was a setup.

The duo allegedly discovered that Vargas was having trouble clearing the property and had reached out to have the residence removed by a controlled fire from local fire departments, but the process would take too long. Instead, Vargas and Collins reportedly came up with ‘hypothetical plans’ of setting the place ablaze — and followed through with it.

Vargas had reportedly taken out a $163,000 insurance policy on the home on Aug. 12, 2024.

“Approximately 2-3 weeks after the arson, Ayre was at Vargas’ house cleaning,” Marthaller stated in court documents. “Collins and Vargas were working on the bike Collins was receiving as payment for the arson. Ayre overheard the two of them talking, and Vargas saying to Collins something to the effect of ‘I would have used a different accelerant,’ as they discussed the railroad tie not having been burned all the way through.”

It was also reportedly discovered that Beatty was instructed to register the motorcycle frame — which was part of the arson investigation — in her name so that the loss could be claimed on her insurance. Vargas also reportedly had to pay Beatty’s insurance premium because she was behind on her payments.

“Sometime in the third week of September 2024, Vargas asked Beatty to bring two gas cans filled with gasoline to his residence in Hoquiam,” Marthaller stated. “In the third week of September, Vargas instructed Beatty to take her car and leave it at the residence at 47 Alexander [Road]. At this point, Beatty understood that Vargas and Collins intended to burn it in the arson because previously, they had discussed it being included in the insurance claim. Beatty did not want her vehicle burnt and refused to leave it at the property.”

“On the day of the fire, Beatty went to 47 Alexander Road to check the mail, arriving at the property between [4:30 pm.] and [5:30 p.m.]. While at the property, Beatty encountered Collins coming down from the upper property, where the residence is located. Collins was riding a quad and had a weed whacker. He stated something to the effect of ‘Got everything ready.’” Marthaller added.

According to court records, Collins spoke with investigators on June 10, accompanied by his attorney, who was representing him in another matter. He told investigators that the motorcycle destroyed in the fire was “not a functioning motorcycle” and was missing vital parts, including a motor.

“Collins elaborated that this missing motor was the one that was put in his bike, later wrecked in December,” Marthaller stated. “He also stated that Vargas was telling people that the arson was [Collins’] idea, then stated, ‘Well, technically it was, but I didn’t say anything about putting f***ing insurance on the f***ing place.”

Vargas interviewed

Investigators reportedly interviewed Vargas at his residence in Hoquiam on June 11, and he admitted that he knew Collins torched the place.

“I asked Vargas if he had ever had a conversation with Beatty about placing her car up by the house to get rid of it when the arson occurred, and Vargas replied, ‘Yeah, I said something like that at one time,’” Marthaller stated. “Vargas then explained, ‘If George [Collins] is going to do this, you might as well park the thing there with it.’ I then rephrased to Vargas that he was aware of Collins’ plan yet still filed an insurance claim in the amount of $163,000.”

“Vargas responded, ‘Yeah, that looks bad, doesn’t it.’ He then claimed that he didn’t know for certain that Collins had committed the arson when he originally filed his insurance claim. When asked for more clarity about the conversation between Collins and him about the arrangement of a motorcycle payment for arson, Vargas elaborated ‘What did get said was this, he said, something about everybody gets a do-over once, you know, and I said well I guess if something like that happened, there would be a lot more money laying around for me to build [Collins] a bike, and from there he took off and ran with it.’”

“[Acdal] asked for clarity, ‘So he knew that the house needed to be burned down before [Collins] could get that bike?’ Vargas replied, ‘Yeah.’ Detective Acdal then asked, ‘So he burned the house down, and you gave him that bike?’ Vargas replied, ‘No, he brought me the bike, and I finished it,’” Marthaller added.

Collins was arrested on June 16 and is charged with first-degree arson. He appeared for a preliminary hearing in Pacific County Superior Court on June 17, and Judge Donald J. Richter set his bail at $100,000. His scheduled arraignment was June 20.

As of reporting, no additional charges have been filed for anyone else’s reported involvement.