Washington Man Indicted In Fires At Jehovah’s Witness halls
December 14, 2022 11:42AM PST
This U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, shows damage from an arson that destroyed the Jehovah’s Witness kingdom hall in Olympia, Wash., on July 3, 2018. Mikey Diamond Starrett, 50, of Olympia, was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, on charges that he set that fire as well as two others at Jehovah’s Witness halls in the area. Starrett has previously insisted that he is innocent. (ATF/U.S. Attorney’s Office via AP)
SEATTLE (AP) – A Washington state man who is already in federal custody on weapons charges has now been indicted in a series of arsons at Jehovah’s Witness kingdom halls.
Seattle U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in a news release Wednesday that the new charges against 50-year-old Mikey Diamond Starrett, also known as Michael Jason Layes, are part of the Justice Department’s efforts to target hate crimes.
Prosecutors previously said Starrett was being investigated for eight attacks on the worship halls.
Late Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Seattle issued a new indictment charging him in three of them – one in Tumwater and two in Olympia in 2018. He has insisted he is innocent.
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