Formal charges filed in motor home arson case

Formal charges against Jocelyn Elise Gates, 23, Yakima, were filed July 24 by the prosecutor’s office. Gates was arrested on a warrant early last Friday as a suspect in the alleged theft of a motor home at the Wheatland Storage lot on the Moscow-Pullman Highway. The missing motor home was located when LaCrosse volunteers July 9 responded to a report of a motor home ablaze on a frontage road along Highway 26.

She has been charged with burglary in the second degree for the alleged break-in of the Wheatland Travel storage lot where the motor home, a 1995 34-foot Intruder, was located. She was also charged for taking a motor vehicle without permission and second degree arson.

Also named as a suspect in the case was Damon Lee McCart, 26. He was not at the residence where deputies served the warrant in the Yakima area. Sheriff Brett Myers in his report said McCart has an extensive criminal record.

Gates was allowed release on her own recognizance last Friday after a first appearance in court.

According to the arrest report, Gates told deputies they decided to set fire to the Intruder after they had an argument while driving along Highway 26. She said the Intruder became stuck when they drove off the highway after the argument.

A warrant for McCart's arrest was issued by the court July 25. Amount of the hold bond on McCart was set at $100,000.

McCart has an extensive criminal record involving trafficking, and among other probable charges connected with the alleged theft and burning of the Intruder motor home he could face a charge of illegal possession of a weapon.

Gates in an interview with officers said she accidentally discharged a pistol in the motor home and that led McCart to decide to burn it on the frontage road along Highway 26 near LaCrosse. When LaCrosse volunteers arrived at the scene the Intruder was fully engulfed in flames.

An additional investigation report filed with the warrant request in court said deputies recovered a spent shell casing in the burned out Intruder which is now on a salvage lot in Airway Heights. They said they were unable to find a pistol, although they were not able to search the sub-floor part of the motor home where they believe the pistol might have fallen during the fire.