Staff report
The Chronicle-News
A Trinidad woman has admitted to starting an office fire that heavily damaged a health center in downtown Trinidad last week, after Trinidad Police Department identified her on video surveillance, police said in an affidavit.
TPD charged Sherry Abeyta (age 44) with one count of first-degree arson, a class three felony, after she voluntarily gave law enforcement officials an interview concerning the fire when contacted near the 700 block of Arizona Avenue Monday, according to an affidavit.
The fire occurred Thursday, Jan. 19, at about 2 p.m., at 165 E. First Street in Trinidad, which houses two healthcare related offices, Fishers Peak Chiropractic Clinic and Aye Naturopathic. It prompted a multi-agency response — with 22 emergency personnel on scene. Officials said all occupants of the office had evacuated before first responders arrived, and that a building in the 150 block of E. First Street sustained “minor water damage” as a result of firefighting efforts.
Fire and other first responders were called back to the fire in the waking-hours of Friday, Jan. 20, when the fire sparked again. Officials said they subdued the fire Friday by late-morning.
Officials said they identified Abeyta as a suspect after reviewing video footage that showed her “non-chalantly” walking towards the suspected origin point of the fire, before walking away in “a more hurried fashion,” according to an affidavit.
The Las Animas County arson investigator determined the fire “originated on or near the back porch” where it had seen the most charring. A man, said to be homeless, has been known to sleep under the porch as an encampment, police said. He was not present at the time of the fire, according to court record.
“It was noted that the fire also penetrated at least two metal doors and entered into a back office where patient records were stored, causing extreme damage to the interior of the structure and attic area,” the affidavit read. A representative of the office did not return a request for comment before deadline for questions concerning the fire’s impact on the practice.
After a TPD investigator confronted Abeyta with photographs of her at the scene she “confessed to intentionally starting the fire to retaliate against her ‘boyfriend’ (name withheld for privacy) for being involved with another female,” police said in an affidavit.
TPD said in a Crimewatch alert Monday afternoon that it had arrested Abeyta after the interview.
Officials issued Abeyta a $45,000 cash or surety bond.
She was due in Las Animas County District Court Wednesday for advisement. Her next court date was not available by deadline.
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