Prosecutors seek to detain Santa Fe man charged in apartment fire

SANTA FE — Santa Fe Police arrested a local man Sunday night on suspicion of setting fire to his Las Palomas Apartments unit and causing significant damage to the building.

Robin White Samadhi is facing a second-degree felony charge of arson, alleging he caused more than $20,000 in smoke and fire damage after witnesses said he intentionally set his apartment ablaze.

Samadhi appeared in court on the arson charge Tuesday and the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to hold him in detention until trial. The motion cites the “strong” weight of evidence against the defendant and asserts the 59-year-old laughed as people fled the burning building.

Police say they received a call around 8:20 p.m. reporting a possible arson in progress, with multiple witnesses describing a man who was actively setting fire inside of his unit on the second floor of building A of the Hopewell Street complex.

By the time officers arrived, they found the inside of apartment 208 “burning vigorously in the living room area” and producing thick smoke, according to a news release.

A Santa Fe Police officer wrote in a statement of probable cause he could see and smell “smoke billowing” from the apartment unit and attempted to put out the flames using a fire extinguisher a fellow officer threw to him.

The flames were “waist high” and had been set on household items that appeared to have been stacked at the center of Samadhi’s living room, according to the probable cause statement. Officers also discovered a smaller fire on top of the stove.

“The smoke was very thick and made it difficult to see fully into the apartment as it billowed out of the open door,” the officer wrote. “It had become difficult to breathe as I was attempting to extinguish this fire.”

The officers evacuated 40 to 50 residents who were still inside neighboring apartments or watching the fire burn from the building’s balcony. Local firefighters began putting water and foam on the blaze to contain it.

Officers found and arrested Samadhi, who was wrapped in a blanket and watching the fire, after a bystander pointed him out to law enforcement, the statement reads.

A couple who lives at the apartment complex told officers they witnessed Samadhi through his front window throwing flaming objects from one side of his unit to the other. One of the residents told officers Samadhi winked and smiled at her as he left his unit to watch the fire burn.

Reviewing surveillance footage from an adjacent building, investigators said flames appeared around 8:20 p.m. before growing “rapidly over the next 10-15 seconds.” Video then purportedly showed Samadhi leave the unit and walk calmly outside.

The statement of probable cause does not reference any conversation police might have had with Samadhi, leaving his possible motive for the alleged crime unclear.