PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A man accused of setting a four-alarm fire to Portland’s May Apartments, in the Goose Hollow neighborhood, on May 16 has been indicted on 55 charges, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Officials said 30-year-old Garrett Repp — who was a resident of the apartment building, was indicted on 28 counts of first-degree arson, 21 counts of recklessly endangering another person, five counts of first-degree animal abuse and one count of first-degree criminal mischief.
On May 16, the district attorney’s office says Repp set fire to the apartments, at 1410 Southwest Taylor St., which led to 33 residents being displaced.
While officials were investigating the cause of the fire, Repp was arrested on May 25 on arson and criminal mischief charges and was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center.
During his first court appearance on May 26, Repp’s lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf during the hearing.
The grand jury returned a true bill of indictment on June 2.
Authorities said due to the violent nature of the crimes and the public safety risk that Repp poses, prosecutors filed a motion to seek preventative detention that would deny Repp’s release as the case proceeds. Officials said that decision will be made by the court at a later date.
While battling the fire, two firefighters were injured, and crews shut down Interstate 405 out of fear that the building would collapse onto the roadway. The structure began to collapse the day after the fire and came after crews said they extinguished the last hot spot earlier in the day.
Court records show Repp was served an eviction notice from the apartments earlier in May.
Some people who lived in the building told KOIN 6 he had a history of causing trouble in the building.
“The guy will come out of his apartment, he’ll pull the alarm, and then he goes back inside his apartment. He’s been seen doing it, they have him on camera doing it, and yet they still didn’t arrest him and they didn’t remove him from the apartment,” said displaced resident John Judge.
Police said they’ve responded to the complex 14 times in the past year, and fire crews have responded 28 times.