About an hour before Multnomah County sheriff’s deputies were scheduled to evict him on May 16, Garrett Repp allegedly started a fire in his third-floor unit that destroyed the 113-year-old May Apartments in Southwest Portland, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Repp pleaded not guilty Friday at Multnomah County’s Justice Center to 15 counts of first-degree arson, 16 counts of reckless endangerment and first-degree criminal mischief.
Sixteen tenants were inside the building when the fire started, six of whom were asleep. Three people went inside the building to alert residents to the fire and to help them evacuate before firefighters arrived, according to the affidavit filed by Deputy District Attorney Eric Palmer. The affidavit doesn’t say whether the three people who entered the building were residents.
Everyone made it out of the building and no one was seriously injured in the fire, but the blaze displaced the residents of all 42 units and killed an unknown number of pets. The charred building, which partially collapsed May 17, likely will be torn down.
A fire investigator determined the fire likely started in unit 310 – Repp’s apartment – and spread up to the fourth floor, consuming all 10 units on the fourth floor and at least five units on the north side of the third floor, according to the affidavit.
An accelerant-detecting dog from Portland Fire & Rescue went into Repp’s apartment on Wednesday and sniffed out five possible spots of “ignitable liquid.” Samples were sent to the Oregon State Police Crime Lab to be analyzed, the affidavit states.
A detective interviewed a third-floor tenant, Rick Ramsberger, who said he awoke to the sound of a door slamming and a “loud popping noise” coming from Repp’s apartment, followed by someone running down the stairwell. Ramsberger called 911 and looked out of his window and saw broken glass on the fire escape and smoke coming from Repp’s apartment. As he exited his apartment, Ramsberger saw smoke coming out from around Repp’s door, according to the affidavit.
Another detective interviewed fourth-floor tenant Sentierra Forbes, who lived above and to the right of Repp’s apartment. She said she awoke to her apartment filling with black smoke coming through the floor of her closet. As she rushed down the fire escape with her dog, she saw heavy smoke and felt heat coming from Repp’s kitchen, the affidavit states.
Portland police arrested Repp Thursday afternoon and booked him into the county jail, where he is being held without bail until his next court appearance on May 30.
The May Apartments’ landlord had initiated an eviction order against Repp in February, saying he owed $3,400 in back rent and fees, court records show. The eviction order was granted in March, but Repp apparently did not move out of the building.
A judge on May 10 ordered sheriff’s deputies to remove Repp from his apartment, according to court records. Deputies planned to evict Repp the same day the fire engulfed the building.
-- Catalina Gaitán, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_
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