Jennifer Meyer sentenced to 15 years for second-degree arson in 2024 Army Surplus fire

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Two months after Sandpoint resident Jennifer S. Meyer amended her plea to guilty of second degree arson in the July 4, 2024 fire that destroyed the Army Surplus store formerly on Fifth Avenue and Oak Street, Judge Susie Jensen handed down a sentence of 15 years in Idaho prison on June 16.

According to court documents, Meyer faces seven years of a determinate sentence and eight years of indeterminate time behind bars, with 336 days credited. Media reports indicate that while Meyer will not have to pay large fines, she will be required to provide restitution for the burning of the Army Surplus 1 store, though that amount has yet to be disclosed.

As the Reader reported in April, Meyer had been looking at fines of up to $75,000, on top of “enhanced penalties,” including restitution that Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said at the time could rise to “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Meyer’s sentence of “determinate” time means she will have to serve those seven years, after which she may be paroled if eligible. If not, she will serve out the remaining eight years of “indeterminate” time.

The Army Surplus store, which has since reopened in Ponderay, is owned by Idaho Dist. 1B Rep. Cornel Rasor, R-Sagle, who delivered a statement to the court that was republished online by the self-described “conservative independent news source” Idaho Dispatch.

Meyer’s booking photo courtesy of BCSO.

Rasor did not respond to a request for comment from the Reader by press time.

“Our business was our home away from home,” Rasor wrote. “We raised our children and taught them the retail business over the 43 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.”

At the time of the fire, the Rasor family was building a new home and stored many of their personal possessions at the site of the business, which were lost in the blaze along with the structure. Estimates for the value of lost merchandise — including a large amount of ammunition, which detonated in prolonged bursts amid the flames — has been pegged at about $500,000.

“Besides the material goods, Jennifer’s crime has affected us in multiple ways,” Rasor wrote. “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,” he added, concluding that he wished Meyer to “remain incarcerated, that she be able to have access to the Gospel of Jesus whether through jail ministries or by some other means.”

In her April court appearance, Meyer had refused to “swear to God” to tell the truth under oath, stating that, “I’m not religious — I can’t agree to that,” though she did affirm she would tell the truth when asked by the judge.

Meyer’s demeanor in previous court appearances dating back to July 2024 — including an instance when she refused to respond to the judge — led to the court’s determination that her mental competency was “significantly impaired” and she was ordered to undergo a period of evaluation at Idaho State Hospital North.

Found to be competent enough to assist in her own case, which was represented by public defense attorney Catherine Enright, Meyer pleaded guilty to arson in the second degree on April 8, reducing her potential jail time and fines from a maximum of 25 years and up to $100,000 or both, as well as avoiding a jury trial that had been scheduled for May but was vacated.

No motive has yet been disclosed for the fire, which surveillance footage showed Meyer lit on the back of the Army Surplus building just as the annual Fourth of July fireworks display was ending at City Beach. No injuries occurred and fire crews were able to contain the fire, with no damage to surrounding structures, while hundreds of holiday revelers looked on.

According to media reports, both Prosecutor Marshall and Judge Jensen stated June 16 that Meyer’s motive did not appear to be political — rather, according to Jensen, Meyer claimed in a statement that she felt the Army Surplus building was “an eyesore,” and she “cleaned up the neighborhood with diesel and a match.”