A Chicago woman charged with arson almost sent her new apartment up in smoke after discovering her husband had smoked their entire stash of marijuana.
Linda Lopez, 33 is accused of setting fires on Sunday at a suburban Riverside apartment building in the 2900 block of Harlem she and her husband recently moved into, the Associated Press reports.
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Linda Lopez, charged with aggravated arson after an argument with her husband over smoking her marijuana. (Police photo)
Police say the couple hit a suburban mall to steal liquor, then drove to the city to buy crack before drinking and smoking back at the apartment, the Chicago Tribune reports.
After falling asleep and waking to find her pot had gone missing, Lopez and her husband allegedly fought, prompting the woman to stab a bottle of perfume and douse a set of towels before setting it on fire.
Tenants in the building called Riverside police after they woke to the sound of the fire alarm. No injuries were reported, though there was minor property damage after crews extinguished a small fire in a planter outside and a second blaze smoldering inside a second floor apartment, the Sun-Times reports.
Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel called Lopez's alleged arson “an extremely disturbing crime in which the offender had absolutely no regard for human life. She left the building believing that at some point the building would become fully engulfed.”
Lopez was charged aggravated arson — a Class X felony because the building was occupied at the time — and held on $20,000 during a Tuesday hearing in Maywood. Prosecutors had originally sought a $500,000 bond, with Weitzel calling the lower charge “bizarre,” the Sun-Times reports.
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