Woman awaiting trial for assault arrested for setting fire
A Las Vegas woman awaiting trial for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon was arrested again last month after police say she set fire to the inside of a home.
According to a statement of probable cause filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court, just before 8 a.m. on June 16, Las Vegas Police responded to a disturbance at a home near Church Street and Mora Street, on the city’s west side. When an officer arrived, he heard glass breaking and a man yelling “stop!”
The man told police he’d asked 36-year-old Loriann M. Garcia to leave his home multiple times. Instead of leaving, he said Garcia spit in his face, then started a fire inside the home, in a doorway between a bedroom and the living room.
The man was able to put the fire out with a jug of water, but not before the flames damaged the wood flooring. He told police that after Garcia set the fire, she fled toward an alleyway behind the home.
Once outside, she began throwing rocks at the home, shattering several windows, the man said. According to court records, an officer found burnt wood flooring, several burnt documents and three broken windows at the residence.
The officer searched the area and located Garcia hiding in weeds near the alleyway. Garcia was arrested and booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center, charged with arson, fleeing or evading, battery and criminal damage to property, all misdemeanors. According to court records, Garcia lives at the same property, but it is unclear if she resides in the same home.
In February, Garcia was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and misdemeanor criminal damage to property after a woman said Garcia attacked her car with an ax.
According to an arrest affidavit filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court, the woman had driven to Garcia’s home because Garcia was going to give her a dog. Instead, she said Garcia charged toward her car — with an ax in hand — and began striking the car with the ax. Police inspected the car and found dents and a shattered windshield with an “axe (sic) head shaped hole” in it, according to court documents. Garcia was booked into SMCDC, but later released on bond.
In April, Garcia’s bond was revoked for failing to comply with the conditions of her release. LVPD said that when an officer attempted to take her into custody near Magistrate Court on Seventh Street, Garcia fled on foot. According to court records, Garcia attempted to hide behind some bushes before jumping a fence and running again.
An officer caught up with Garcia near Seventh Street and Mills Ave., and arrested her.
Police say Garcia continued to fight them while in the back of a police vehicle, and at the police station.
Garcia was charged with resisting, a misdemeanor, and is scheduled to appear in Magistrate Court July 23 for a pretrial hearing. In the case involving the ax, a jury trial is set to begin Aug. 20 in District Court. Garcia is also scheduled to appear in Magistrate Court for a pretrial hearing on July 25 for the arson case.
For her most recent arrest, Garcia was booked into SMCDC on June 16. At a June 18 hearing, Garcia pleaded not guilty, and a judge set bond at $10,000. As of this writing, Garcia was still being held at SMCDC.
