Jasmine Franks — Smyth County News & Messenger
A Saltville woman is facing an attempted arson charge in connection with a Feb. 29 fire that police believe to have been intentionally set at a West Main Street home.
According to court documents, a man and woman who live at the home told Saltville officers the fire had been set by 43-year-old Jody Michelle Smith. The pair recounted that Smith had stopped by the home around 2 p.m. that day, beat on the door and then left. Shortly after, the man told police, he saw smoke coming from around the home.
In a criminal complaint, Officer A.W. Bordwine wrote that video footage from a neighboring security camera showed Smith pull into the driveway, retrieve a container from the back of the vehicle and walk toward the home. She was then seen returning to the vehicle and storing the container before she left, the document states.
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“As the vehicle is leaving, the flames shoot up the side of the house,” Bordwine wrote of the footage.
The officer noted in the complaint that he could smell the scent of either kerosene or lighter fluid at the scene.
The man who spoke with police said he was able to evacuate the woman and another occupant and extinguish the fire. According to the complaint, the woman told police that Smith had previously made threats to kill her.
Taken into custody on March 3, Smith is scheduled for her next court appearance in July.
Set to be arraigned today is a Saltville man who police say intentionally clogged part of the town’s sewer system with adult diapers.
According to a criminal complaint, police were called out to 1641 Saltville Highway on Feb. 14 by the town’s maintenance supervisor, who told them town crews had pulled 11 adult-sized diapers from the sewer lines. The diapers, he told them, had caused significant blockage, and the incident wasn’t the first that week.
Saltville PD Investigator Steven McVey said some of the diapers passed through the sewer lines and into two pumps housed 25 to 30 feet underground, requiring crews to also repair the pumps.
During an interview with police, 34-year-old Phillip Andrew Harris admitted to putting the diapers down a nearby manhole. McVey said Harris told him he liked to watch the heavy machinery in use as crews cleared the blockage. The investigator said Harris had been involved in a similar incident in the early 2000s.
In the criminal complaint, McVey wrote that the town had spent $1,731.50 in repairs with more work still yet needed.
Arrested on March 6 and released on a recognizance bond, Harris faces five counts each destruction of property and damage to a public utility.