Federal Grand Jury: Defendant Has Been in Custody for Firearms Offenses Since 2021 

Thurston County Man Charged for Alleged Arsons at Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls in 2018 

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A 50-year-old Olympia man was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury for three arsons that damaged or destroyed Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls in 2018, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown announced Wednesday.  

The defendant, Michael Jason Layes, also known as Mikey Diamond Starrett, is accused of setting fire to Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls on three occasions: the Kingdom Hall of Tumwater on March 19, 2018; the Kingdom Hall of Olympia on March 19, 2018; and the Kingdom Hall of Olympia on July 3, 2018.  

The charging documents accuse Layes of defacing, damaging and destroying religious real property at the Kingdom Halls because of the religious character of the properties, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

“Our criminal investigators have been working tirelessly on these attacks since they began in 2018,” said Jonathan T. McPherson, special agent in charge from the Seattle field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “We hope this indictment helps calm the fears of those in the Pierce and Thurston county areas through the knowledge that Layes is being prosecuted for his alleged crimes.”

Layes was previously charged with one count of damage to religious property, including the use of a dangerous weapon, and one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in connection with a shooting that damaged a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Yelm on May 15, 2018.  

He was also previously charged with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm and has been in federal custody since his arrest on Sept. 8, 2021.



If convicted, Layes faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison on each charge of damage to religious property and up to 10 years in prison for the unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm charge.

“As (the U.S. Department of Justice) noted this week, we are putting a priority on prosecuting hate crimes,” Brown said, citing a news release the Department of Justice issued Monday about hate crime statistics. “We continue to work closely with our faith communities so that they have the most current information on how to protect places of worship.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted in the news release that “the charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”

The case is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Seattle Field Division, the FBI and the Tumwater and Olympia police departments. 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rebecca S. Cohen for the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Matthew Tannenbaum for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Cohen serves as the civil rights coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division.

For more information and resources about the Department of Justice’s work to combat hate crimes, visit www.justice.gov/hatecrimes.