Tacoma Man Sentenced For Fire In Seattle's 'CHOP' Last Summer

SEATTLE — A Tacoma resident has been sentenced to two years behind bars, accused of setting a fire at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest and endangering protestors and the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct last summer.

As part of a plea agreement, 36-year-old Isaiah Thomas Willoughby admitted he used gasoline to set a fire outside the precinct. Protestors were camped just a few feet away from the debris fire, and though those protestors quickly squelched the blaze using fire extinguishers, prosecutors say Willoughby's actions put them at risk.

Willoughby was identified using surveillance video of the incident. Seattle Police Department recordings reportedly show Willoughby pouring gasoline from a small gas can on a pile of debris, then lighting it on fire. Officers released stills of the footage, and several people recognized Willoughby, who could be seen wearing a "distinctive" sweater from a clothing line he represents, the DOJ said.

Officers also scoured Willoughby's Facebook page, and though it had been scrubbed clean of images that may have linked him to the fire, investigators found several posts venting frustration with police and about the East Precinct building, which were used to build a case against him.

Willoughby was then arrested on July 14, 2020, and has been held in the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac since.

Prosecutors initially asked that Willoughby serve a three-year sentence, arguing that his social media posts proved he had planned the crime in advance, and frequently posted about his anger and intent. Instead, Willoughby will severe two years, followed by three years of supervised release.

The Department of Justice's news release on Willoughby 's charging does note that he acted against the wishes of other protestors inside the CHOP and Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg told the court the fire was "counterproductive to what the protestors were trying to accomplish.”

The CHOP (first called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone before becoming the Occupied Protest) was formed when the Seattle Police Department boarded up and left the precinct on June 8, 2020, following weeks of clashes with protestors demanding greater police accountability.

Exactly who ordered the precinct's abandonment had remained a mystery for more than a year, with both Best and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan insisting it was not their call. In July, KUOW revealed the decision ultimately came from assistant chief Tom Mahaffey.

Earlier this week, an investigation by Seattle's Office of Police Accountability cleared former police chief Carmen Best and Mahaffey of all allegations of misconduct relating to the precinct's abandonment.

Related: OPA Clears Police Brass In Abandoning Of Seattle's East Precinct