October 12, 2021
By News Director Jared Atha
A Tennessee man traveling through the area received two arson charges in Beckham County District Court after allegedly attempting to set fire to a building in Erick.
The suspect also allegedly attempted to set fire to his pickup.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the incident took place on the evening of September 22 when a Beckham County Sheriff’s Deputy informed by the Erick Fire Department that an individual may have attempted to set his truck on fire in the 800 block of Sheb Wooley, near the Okie Trading Post. The deputy was advised that the suspect had gone to a near by store and was being held there by the Erick Fire Chief.
When the deputy arrived he would find the suspect, 30-year-old Benjamin Martinez Blanco of Manchester, Tennessee, being separated from his family. After an investigation the affidavit revealed that Blanco’s wife would tell authorities that the couple had gotten into an argument while traveling from Arizona back to Tennessee. At one point the suspect would enter Erick, and attempt to set the truck the family was traveling in on fire.
The court document did not indicate if the family was inside the vehicle at the time of the incident.
Upon further investigation it was revealed that a window at the Okie Trading Post had been busted out, and the door and door mat to the building had burn marks on them.
Blanco would be arrested and charged with one count of second degree arson, one count of third degree arson, and malicious injury to property over $1,000.
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