CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A Terra Alta woman has been arrested in connection with arsons at two separate businesses in the past year.
Rachel Lin Giffen, 23 years old of Terra Alta, is charged with setting fire on Jan.9th, 2024, to a store in which she was employed. That fire happened at the End Zone/PARMAR store on Veteran’s Highway in Terra Alta. In that fire the responding fire department arrived on scene to find a large wooden bin filled with cardboard in flames inside the garage area of the business. Firefighters were able to contain the fire with minimal damage to the business.
Investigators with the WVSFMO interviewed Giffen and she admitted to them that she had intentionally set the fire. She stated that she had been working at the store for approximately 3 months at the time of the incident.
During these interviews with Giffen investigators also learned of a separate fire that occurred in July of 2023 at a pizza parlor in Maryland where Giffen was employed. The Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office then obtained a warrant for her arrest for that fire.
Giffen was arrested on the West Virginia charges on Jan. 17th and charged with second degree arson (setting fire to a structure other than a dwelling) and posted a $35,000.00 cash or surety bond in that case.
Giffen is expected to turn herself in to Maryland’s Fire Marshal today in the July 2023 case.