Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jermaya Lavaghn Richardson, 32, was arrested last night for intentionally setting her apartment on fire.

Click here for photos from the fire department.

Around 10:45 p.m. on August 19, a Gainesville Police Department officer interviewed a witness who stated she was married to Richardson and resided with her at Camelot Apartments (3425 SW 2nd Avenue). The witness reported she had received a text labeled “Emergency” from a second witness, and upon calling this relative of Richardson, was informed that Richardson had deliberately set their apartment ablaze. The first witness mentioned rushing home to find smoke emanating from the apartment and saw the building being evacuated.

The officer then reached out to the second witness, who resides in another state. According to this witness, during a video call aimed at calming Richardson’s anger towards the first witness, Richardson declared she would “set this place on fire” and flipped the camera to reveal a burning mattress. Although the second witness couldn’t confirm how the fire started, she observed that Richardson was alone in the apartment, as the first witness was at work. Subsequently, she hastily ended the call to inform the first witness.

Meeting Richardson in the parking lot, the officer, after reading her Miranda rights, learned that she was upset with the first witness for not returning home directly after work, leading her to knock her TV to the floor in frustration. Richardson claimed the television started sparking, prompting her to leave in fear of a fire outbreak. Yet, she also allegedly noted that during a video call, “whatever [the second witness] said happened is what happened.”

A fire investigator assessed the fire had originated in Richardson’s bedroom mattress, estimating the damage to her apartment and two adjacent ones at approximately $200,000.

Facing three arson counts of a dwelling, Richardson possesses a criminal record in Georgia, including an active warrant, along with unspecified federal offenses and a local felony for grand theft of a motor vehicle. Arrested earlier in February for smashing a neighbor’s window at Gardenview Apartments due to infidelity suspicions, the charges were later dropped. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered her held without bail pending a State Attorney’s office motion for detention until trial. If denied, bail will be determined at the hearing. Additionally, Judge Miller-Jones barred her from returning to Camelot Apartments.

Articles concerning arrests derive from law enforcement agency reports. The charges are extracted from arrest records and/or court documentation and are solely allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a legal court.