Tacoma police searching for man accused of setting ex-girlfriend's home on fire

TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police want the public’s help to find a man accused of setting his ex-girlfriend’s home on fire.

According to charging documents, the girlfriend began receiving text messages Sept. 25 from the man accused of setting it as the fire was burning. Michael Jarvis, 33, allegedly texted saying it would be a shame if she burned in her house. She and two other people escaped after a neighbor banged on the door alerting them.

“He set a house in fire, there were occupants inside the house,” said Tacoma police spokeswoman Officer Shelbie Boyd.

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Jarvis faces a number of charges filed in Pierce County Superior Court Oct. 3 including arson, cyberstalking, and disclosing intimate images, sometimes called revenge porn, after secretly taking a video of the woman without consent and texting it to her friends.

In July the woman, who KIRO 7 is not identifying, got a court order prohibiting Jarvis from contacting her claiming, “he threatened to burn my house down, kill me and himself,” and, “tried to burn my garage down,” months before the September fire. “He sent me video yesterday of him speeding on the freeway trying to get the police to shoot him,” she wrote in the complaint.

Jarvis is considered transient and is known to stay in the city's Lincoln district near the victim's home. Tacoma police say they want to track Jarvis down before he hurts someone.

"Any time you set a house on fire with occupants inside intentionally, yeah, I’m going to say you’re dangerous,” Boyd  said.

Crime Stoppers of Tacoma and Pierce County is offering a reward for information leading to Jarvis’ arrest.

Cox Media Group