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one Texas women According to federal prosecutors, he was sentenced to six years in prison for a 2023 arson attack on a church in Washington State.
Natasha Marie O’Dell, 38, was sentenced Thursday to arson in Seattle Rastadia Lutheran Church on three felony charges. Snohomish County, WashingtonThe U.S. Attorney’s Office in Western Washington announced.
Odell pleaded guilty earlier this year to arson, damage to religious property and obstruction in the free exercise of religious beliefs.
“This crime is devastating and dangerous,” U.S. District Court Judge Jamal Whitehead said in a sentencing hearing on Thursday. “Ms. Odel deliberately caught fire at the church, causing total damage.”
A Texas woman was sentenced to six years in prison for a 2023 arson attack on a church in Washington state. (U.S. Attorney’s Office in Western Washington)
The judge added: “The scope of destruction is shocking. You burned the spiritual home of the congregation…the wounds that leave the house deepen every day.”
The judge will determine the compensation payment at a later date.
O’Dell is visiting his family when he caught fire at the church in Maltby on August 25, 2023.
She was associated with the fire through cell phone records, credit card records and surveillance videos, under the plea agreement and federal indictment.
The investigation relates O’Dell to a credit card purchase purchased at a service station, where she bought some lighters and a container with a gallon of gas.
Natasha Marie O’Dell, 38, was sentenced to arson in Seattle Rastad Lutheran Church for three felony crimes. (U.S. Attorney’s Office in Western Washington)
Despite the destruction of the church, video surveillance of the security system survived and captured Odell moving around the church with a red gasoline container.
In the video, she was seen emptying containers on the exterior walls of the church and on the objects around the building. O’Dell then moved out of the camera’s field of view to see growing in the area where she poured gasoline.
Odell admitted to prosecutors that she told multiple people that she was angry about the church, especially the church in Seattle Rastad Lutheran Church. She later told another person that she planned to burn Nearby churches.
Video surveillance part of the security system survived the fire and captured women moving around the church with gasoline containers. (Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue)
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The fire caused more than $3.2 million in damage to the church, which incurs additional expenses by renting nearby middle schools with multiple weekly services.
A firefighter was injured while extinguishing the flames and was transported to the emergency room.
“Ms. Odell’s extreme disregard for the safety of the community, when she poured a gallon of gas on the church building and used it The lighter started to fire.” Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said in a statement. “This behavior has left anyone inside the church, around the church, and firefighters who respond in extreme dangers. Fortunately, only one firefighter was injured.”
