SEQUIM — A 21-year-old local man is in jail on $100,000 cash bond, charged with second-degree arson.
Michael Malvey was jailed after being accused of intentionally igniting a fire near the Sequim Post Office.
Clallam County Dep. Prosecuting Attorney Richard Suryan requested the high bail Tuesday on Malvey, saying he is an extreme danger to the community and to himself.
Judge Ken Williams appointed a public defender Tuesday to represent Malvey and set his arraignment for 9 a.m. Friday.
Malvey, dressed in a yellow shirt and black pants, sat quietly through his first court appearance, answering the judge’s questions about whether he understood his rights and if he wanted a court-appointed attorney.
Police become suspicious
Sequim Police Chief Byron C. Nelson said officers became suspicious of Malvey after he told them he’d reported Monday’s fire after smelling the smoke from his apartment at 300 S. Sunnyside Ave.
Police said his apartment is west of where the fire started and that the light breeze was blowing smoke away from, not toward, his apartment.
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