King County Prosecutors on Wednesday charged a 20-year-old Auburn man with second-degree burglary and second-degree arson in connection with a fire at The Kouros restaurant at 721 W. Main Street on Jan. 16.
Siu Faaeseiga, last known address at 9 G St. NW, is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on Jan. 28. He is in custody at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
Firefighters were dispatched to the fire after an alert citizen noticed flames inside and called 911. Firefighters quickly doused the fire, preventing further damage to the business. The restaurant was unoccupied at the time, and nobody was injured.
Initial reports suggested that the fire appeared to be suspicious in nature, and the VRFA and the Auburn Police Department investigated.
According to court records, officers found shoe prints outside in the dirt directly below a broken window. Inside someone had taken food from the refrigerators and freezers and thrown it all over the walls. Someone had pulled coffee grinders off the counters and destroyed a sink in the wall. In the front entry someone had broken a full length mirror and pulled a cabinet down onto the floor. Prior to exiting the business, somebody had set fire to paperwork inside the cabinet that had been pulled down to the floor.
Faaeseiga came to the Auburn Police Department at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 18, claiming to have a lot of information about the fire. And according to what he allegedly told police, the fire began in a disagreement with the restaurant’s owner over pay.
According to the police account, Faaeseiga told police that last summer he had agreed to do some yard work for owner Walid Doghli, and that the two men had agreed on a sum of $10 per hour for work that he completed.
Faaeseiga allegedly told police that he had completed five hours of work, but Doghil only paid him $20. He was angry about that, but did not mention his anger to his employer.
Faaeseiga allegedly told police that on 11 p.m. on Jan. 16 he watched employees leave the restaurant and decided at that time to break in. According to what he allegedly told police, he went to the west side of the restaurant, broke a window with his hand and climbed through. He said he then walked into the restaurant and threw a cup of food around the kitchen. He allegedly told police that he approached a cash register and threw it on the floor, then lit a cigarette and placed it on some crumpled paper on the desk. According to the police account, he walked over to the door and kicked the glass panels, shattering them.
After Faaeseiga left, he told police, he walked to the Auburn Regional Medical Center to treat some cuts to his legs, but when an employee threatened to call security, he left. Faaeseiga allegedly showed police cuts on his hands and legs connected with the crime.
