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Couple charged with plot to cash in on house fire in SW Wash.

11:44 AM PDT on Thursday, May 15, 2008

By DAVID KROUGH, kgw.com Staff

WINLOCK, Wash. -- A couple and their in-laws were charged with arson for a plot to burn down a log cabin home and cash in on the insurance money in Southwest Washington.

Lewis County sheriff’s deputies booked 29-year-old Jeremy Raymond Radford into jail for arson Wednesday night.

An anonymous tip led investigators to their conclusion in the days following the April 19 fire at the home on military Road near Winlock. Firefighters at the scene were told the homeowners were in Seaside, Oregon at the time.

The tipster told deputies that Radford and his family had been moving furniture and belongings out of the cabin a week before the fire started.

KGW graphic

Detectives said Radford, his wife, Gianna Marie Radford, 28, her mother, Nancy Carol Godsoe-Delephine, 58, and father Robert Leonard Delephine, 74, of Vancouver started hatching the plot in January.

Jeremy Radford told investigators he wanted to build a bigger home on the property with the insurance payout.

He admitted he put a towel over a heater to spark the blaze, then headed for the coast. Later, detectives said they found the family’s belongings at a rental home in Napavine, along with about $2,000 in donated gift cards from the Red Cross and local Lions Club.

“I am appalled by the actions of the people involved in this crime,” Sheriff Steve Mansfield said. “Not only did their actions endanger fire fighters and emergency workers who responded to the house fire, they scammed money from community members trying to help them.”

No one was hurt in the fire.