Grandview Man Gets Five Years for Fires Set to Cover Burglary

A five-year prison term and 3 years of supervised probation was given to a man for his role in a shocking arson and burglary in 2022.

 Grandview man set a fire to distract authorities

The US Attorney's Office for Eastern Washington announced Wednesday that 48-year-old  Christopher Vaughn Schlax of Grandview will serve the time after pleading guilty to three counts of Damage by Fire to a Building or Personal Property Used in Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

Authorities said June 27th of 2022, Schlax and an accomplice committed a series of burglaries, then to cover their tracks and distract law enforcement, they went to the  Lineage Logistics warehouse in Grandview, Washington. Schlax set fire to a pile of pallets at the location, which ended up doing over $400,000 worth of damage to the building.

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Then on July 4, 2022, Schlax and an accomplice again attempted to pull off a burglary by setting a distraction fire. This time it was at the River Valley Fruit plant, and that fire caused $1.5 million in damages to the building. Shortly after setting that fire, Schlax used a cutting torch to cut open the save at the Grandview Dollar Tree store, which ended up setting that structure on fire.  The Dollar Tree blaze damage was estimated at $1.8 million.

US Attorney Vanessa A. Waldreff released a statement that read in part:

“Mr. Schlax not only committed burglaries, but then, to cover up his crimes, he started fires that endangered firefighters, law enforcement and members of the community. The fires started by Mr. Schlax also caused millions of dollars in property damage."

His accomplice is facing similar charges and was arrested in November of 2022. They are still awaiting trial.