The blaze destroyed the church and injured one firefighter. Investigators later tied O’Dell to credit card purchases of gasoline and lighters.
SEATTLE — A Texas woman who set fire to a Snohomish County church in 2023, causing more than $3.2 million in damage, was sentenced Thursday in federal court to six years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead handed down the sentence to Natasha Marie O’Dell, 38, of Temple, Texas, who pleaded guilty in April to arson, damage to religious property and obstructing persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs.
“This offense was devastating and dangerous,” Whitehead said at sentencing. “You burned down the spiritual home of a congregation. The wounds you have inflicted deepen for each day they are away from their home.”
Prosecutors said O’Dell traveled to western Washington in August 2023 to visit relatives in Woodinville and deliberately set fire to the Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church in Maltby. Video surveillance captured her pouring gasoline on the building’s exterior and using a lighter to spark the flames.
The blaze destroyed the church and injured one firefighter. Investigators later tied O’Dell to credit card purchases of gasoline and lighters, as well as an Uber ride to the church.
“Ms. O’Dell acted with extreme disregard for community safety,” Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said. “This conduct put anyone inside the church, the neighbors around the church, and the firefighters who responded in extreme danger.”
The fire forced the congregation to rent space at a nearby middle school for services. The judge will determine restitution at a later hearing.
The case was investigated by the Snohomish County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg.
