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SALT LAKE CITY — A man has been charged with aggravated arson after officials say he threatened a woman and set fire to her bedroom.
Salt Lake City Fire investigator Justin Poach responded to a suspicious fire near 900 South Main Street on May 13, according to charging documents. Tayana Vargas, the tenant of the apartment, told investigators that she was home with her two children when a man entered the apartment and started yelling at her.
Vargas told the man to leave, but when he refused to leave the residence, she took her children and left, documents said. The man, later identified as Brad Edward James Francis, allegedly motioned to Vargas through the window after she left and made a cutting gesture across his neck.
When Vargas returned to her apartment a short time later, she discovered areas in her bedroom had been burned. Upon further investigation, Poach said that the burned carpet by her dresser and the corkboard had been intentionally set with combustible materials.
Francis was charged in Third District Court with aggravated assault, a first degree felony.
