Following that, he admitted to his crimes in an interview with a local tv station. Martinez had caused a disturbance at a local bar and THREATENED TO BURN DOWN THE ESTABLISHMENT before returning with an LGBT rainbow flag he stole from the Ames United Church of Christ, and setting fire to it outside the bar. He did not light his own property in some random parking lot.

In this case, by law, he stole another's property, the church's flag, and lit it on fire. In its most basic sense a person commits arson when they knowingly, by means of a fire or explosive:ĭamage any real or personal property of another without their consent orĭamage any real or personal property with intent to defraud an insurer.