Suspect in Greenwood fires charged with arson, burglary

Kevin Todd Swalwell used a cigarette lighter to set fire to cardboard, newspapers and, in one case, a bag of donated clothing, igniting 11 arsons and causing damage totaling nearly $3 million, according to charges filed Tuesday by King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.

Swalwell was charged with three counts of first-degree arson, eight counts of second-degree arson and one count of first-degree burglary in connection with 11 fires in Seattle and Shoreline since June. Ten of those fires were set in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood, including an Aug. 13 blaze that severely burned a 68-year-old man and an Oct. 23 fire that destroyed a coffee shop and three restaurants, causing $2 million in damage.

In announcing the charges, Satterberg said the standard range of nine to 12 years in prison isn't stiff enough for Swalwell, whom Satterberg described as "an incorrigible serial arsonist." Satterberg said his office will seek an exceptional sentence of 36 years, citing the escalation of Swalwell's conduct as the reason.

"He is the type of offender who will continue to set fires when he is out of custody," Satterberg said, pointing out that Swalwell's latest arson spree began with "fires that didn't cause very much damage" and grew to blazes that threatened lives and required dozens of firefighters to put out.

Swalwell, who has served previous prison terms for arsons in 1983 and 1994, was spotted at three of the Greenwood fire scenes before his arrest on Friday, the charging papers say. At a Nov. 8 fire scene, a K-9 officer stopped Swalwell and asked his name, the papers say. The 46-year-old homeless man allegedly gave the officer a fake name.

Swalwell was arrested Friday after he was again spotted within blocks of the 11th fire he is charged with starting — at a vacant retail store at 16748 Aurora Ave. N. in Shoreline, according to charging papers. That fire, which caused damage that "will probably exceed $700,000," was started when Swalwell allegedly dragged cardboard boxes from a nearby trash bin into a shed at the back of the building and torched them, the papers say.

At the time of his arrest, Swalwell was wearing the same clothes he had on when he was caught by a bank's video surveillance camera on Nov. 9 smoking a cigarette just before a fire at the Olive You restaurant, charging papers say. That fire, at 8516 Greenwood Ave. N., caused $20,000 damage. Paper and cardboard taken from a nearby trash bin was stuffed into an opening near the power meter at the rear of the restaurant and lit on fire with a cigarette lighter, the papers say.

Swalwell also is accused of stealing a safe and filing cabinet from the Green Bean Coffee House at 208 Greenwood Ave. N. on Oct. 23, the charging papers say.

The charging papers say that he broke a window and climbed into the office of the nonprofit cafe and loaded the safe and contents of the filing cabinet into a recycling bin that he later wheeled away from the scene. He then lit a fire using paper found in the office, igniting what is believed to be his most expensive blaze, which destroyed three other restaurants and damaged the Taproot Theatre and another adjacent building, the papers say.

Police later found the abandoned safe, the recycling bin, a stack of wet cardboard and a metal bar that had been used to pry the safe open, charging papers say.

The papers do not say whether anything was taken from the safe.

Another restaurant, a guitar store, a photo shop and an accounting firm were among Swalwell's other targets, the charging papers say.

He allegedly began one fire by pushing a flaming piece of cardboard through a mail slot; in another, Swalwell took a bag of donated clothing from a bin outside a thrift store, shoving the clothes and paper under a door and lighting the paper on fire, the charging papers say. In other cases, he jammed paper under a doorway, a porch and a fence to start fires, the papers say.

Police also matched a palm print, found on a container of lighter fluid near the scene of the Aug. 13 blaze, to Swalwell's prints, the papers say. That fire, in the 100 block of 84th Avenue Northwest, started when lighter fluid was sprayed on a corner of the house and ignited, according to charging papers.

Carlos Salmeron, 68, managed to escape his basement apartment but suffered burns over 70 percent of his body.

Seattle Times staff reporter Jennifer Sullivan contributed to this report.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com