The Maui News

WAILUKU — A Wailuku woman who was arrested for allegedly setting a fire that damaged her ex-boyfriend’s car and house was released on supervision Thursday.

Marie Aviles, 26, has pleaded not guilty to third-degree arson, first-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, second-degree terroristic threatening and fourth-degree arson.

“Given the facts of the case and also the fact that she’s pending screening for first-degree robbery, she poses a great danger to this community,” said Deputy Prosecutor Joanne Hicks.

She asked that bail remain at $5,000 for Aviles.

Noting that Aviles has no criminal history, Deputy Public Defender Danielle Sears asked the judge to follow a bail report recommending that Aviles be released on supervision.

Hicks said the fire was set in the early morning of Sept. 24 when Aviles’ ex-boyfriend had been asleep in his home on Holua Drive in Kahului and received a message from Aviles asking him to go outside. She was a passenger in a Chevy truck and got out and asked him for $40.

When he told her no, she became upset and started yelling, Hicks said. He reported hearing a banging and saw her hitting the windshield of his Nissan Maxima with an object, Hicks said.

She said he yelled at her and Aviles ran back to the truck, yelling, “I’m going to burn your house down.”

Ten minutes later, after he had gone back to sleep, his brother-in-law woke him and said he saw smoke coming from his car, which was parked next to the house, Hicks said.

She said the flames from the car reached the lower rafters of the house, which was slightly charred, causing about $200 in damage.

A piece of paper on the seat of the car burned, ruining the front seats and console area, as well as part of the rear seat, and causing about $1,000 in damage, Hicks said.

She said the victim and his brother-in-law used a hose to put out the fire before firefighters arrived.

“If they had not been able to stop that fire, that could have been serious,” Hicks said. “The vehicle could have been totally burned. It looks like the fire had already reached the house, and there were people inside the home.”

In ordering Aviles’ release on supervision, 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza said he couldn’t consider the investigation in the uncharged robbery case.

He ordered her to have no contact with her ex-boyfriend and remove any contact information for him from her cellphone and other electronic devices.