
37-year-old Desiree Lynn Chavan is currently booked inside the Mendocino County jail accused of arson. Willits Police Department Chief Fabian Lizarraga told MendoFever that after Chavan had threatened to light her apartment building on fire, WPD officers found evidence she acted on these threats.
On December 6, 2021, WPD officers responded to the 100 block of Creekside Drive after neighbors of Chavan reported she was “loudly threatening to set fire to their building.” When officers responded, they located Chavan in her apartment where they located “evidence that a fire had been set” in the form of burn marks to the wall of the structure.
Officers spoke with neighbors, the apartment manager, and Chavan and determined she “indeed tried to intentionally set fire to the structure.” Any and all flames were extinguished when a ” maintenance person took a hose and extinguished it,” Chief Lizarraga explained. Chavan’s motives were “unknown at the time of the arrest.”
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Booking Logs indicate Chavan is accused of one felony charge of arson with her bail set at $100,000.
Also, with due respect to the victim of the circumstances described, it must be stated that the charges described have not been proven in a court of law. In accordance with the legal principle of the presumption of innocence, any individual described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
From Willows, Ca. Graduated from Willows High School.