Idaho Arsonist Gets 15 Years for Torching Lawmaker’s Business

By Greg Pruett

Jennifer Suzanne Meyer, who pleaded guilty to second-degree arson, was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in prison.

What’s Happening: On July 4, 2024, the Army Surplus store in Sandpoint, owned by State Rep. Cornel Rasor (R – Westmond), was burned to the ground. Initial rumors were that perhaps a firework had hit the building and started the fire. However, police later said that arson was suspected in the fire.

Meyer was eventually identified as the suspect and arrested. She was initially deemed unfit to stand trial, but after undergoing a court-ordered evaluation at Idaho State Hospital North, it was determined that she was fit to stand trial. Meyer then changed her plea from not guilty to guilty.

Of the 15 years Meyer has to serve, seven years fixed, with a credit of 336 days served.

Digging Deeper: Idaho Dispatch contacted Rasor, who now has a new store open in Ponderay, to ask for the victim statement he read in court. Here is that statement in full:

“Honorable Judge,

The actions of Jennifer Suzanne Meyers and her arson of our store have greatly affected our lives. The Army Surplus was our only livelihood.

Our business was our home away from home. We raised our children and taught them the retail business over the forty-three years that we were open. Our grandchildren became our employees. Seeing our livelihood burned to the ground has had an emotional effect on us and our entire family.

We were in the middle of building our home and had our personal possessions stored in the warehouse there. Furniture and household items were destroyed. My wife’s parents had recently passed away and her inheritance property was demolished. 

I lost wages from July all the way to today.  The entire inventory that we had built up over the years is disintegrated. The equipment it takes to run a retail business from hangers to shelving and retail equipment are gone. We cannot be made completely whole, as the insurance money was not enough to recoup everything.

As I mentioned earlier, the store had become a focal point of our family. Not only did we use the warehouse for storage, my wife taught an art class once a week there. All of the student’s work was lost including the equipment it takes to run a 15-student class. Kim had all of her framed professional art work in the store, all of which was burned.  Family possessions with great sentimental value are now irreplaceable.

Besides the material goods, Jennifer’s crime has affected us in multiple ways. I have lost sleep worrying about how I would provide for my family and how we could make the business profitable again in a less desirable location than what we had.

Now that we are left with the financial and work burden of rebuilding a new business, we would encourage the court that Jennifer’s sentencing and restitution would be strict enough that she could not do this again.

It would also be our desire that should she remain incarcerated, that she be able to have access to the Gospel of Jesus whether through jail ministries or by some other means.

Thank you,
Cornel Rasor”

Note: Thumbnail image and images below courtesy of Casey Whalen for Idaho Tribune.

From idahodispatch.com