A man was arrested at Southwest Memorial Hospital on Oct. 6 after allegedly damaging vehicles in the parking lot and committing arson.
When officer Joseph Yen arrived at the hospital about 11:14 p.m., he saw a white Ford SUV with flames coming from the gas cap area on the rear passenger side of the vehicle. Sgt. Brent Jarmon attempted to put out the fire with his fire extinguisher, but the Cortez Fire Protection District arrived and put it out.
The fire was reported by passerby Todd Phillips. Phillips told Yen that he saw the fire “out of the corner of his eye” when he was driving into the parking lot of the hospital.
As Yen was investigating, he said he noticed a boulder, about one foot by one foot, split in half near the front of the vehicle on the passenger side. There were dents on the passenger side of the fender, side door and under the gas cap. There were also burn marks around the cap and under the rear fender wall.
When he opened the gas tank, he found a gauze material with money inside it.
Officer Trevor Robertson said when he spoke to ER staff, he saw a man, later identified as Craig Begay, leaving the ER with gauze wrapped around his left arm. Begay had reportedly arrived at the hospital via Ute Mountain ambulance around 10:13 p.m. He had left around 10 minutes before dispatch received the call about the fire.
Begay approached Jarmon in the parking lot, and said he did not cause the fire when asked. He reportedly said, “There is someone I want to cover up for.”
Out of caution, Jarmon detained Begay. Begay refused to speak further, and appeared to be intoxicated, according to the report. He reportedly smelled of alcohol and was “not acting normally.”
Jarmon said he did not see any gauze on his arm.
Robertson found another damaged vehicle in the northwest parking lot. The damaged vehicle was a blue Toyota Tacoma registered to Dr. Kenton Asche.
Yen said there were “deep” scratch marks to the window. He estimated the damage to be approximately $500 to $1,000.
Once Begay was medically cleared, he was taken to the Montezuma County Detention Center. When they arrived at the jail, Jarmon told Yen that he had seen “Craig’s hands go up and Craig leaving without the boulder in his hands” around 10:38 p.m. in the surveillance footage from ER staff.
Begay was booked into the jail on suspicion of second-degree arson and two counts of criminal mischief. Yen added that Begay has a history of drug charges and damaging property.
Begay will appear for his appearance on bond and hearing on advisement on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
