Woman receives stayed sentence for burning Islamic Center with a lighter and aerosol can

A woman charged with arson inside an Islamic Center in East Grand Forks was given a stayed sentence.

Court records from Polk County show Suzette Gay Thompson was sentenced Tuesday for first-degree arson-using combustible or flammable material, receiving four years of prison time. However, that prison time will be stayed for five years of probation for the 60-year-old instead, as well as a $210 payment for fines and fees.

Thompson was arrested back in 2022 after East Grand Forks Police were called to the city’s Islamic Center after a curtain was found on fire on in the early hours of June 5.

After interviewing witnesses in the area and reviewing security video, police learned that a blonde woman in a black dress with pink flowers had been in the building around 4:20 a.m. That same woman, according to Polk County Court records, was seen on video using an aerosol can and lighter to set the curtain on fire before leaving the area.

A witness reported seeing the woman run to the East Grand Inn.

Police later found a woman who matched the description of the arsonist at the inn. She was later identified as Thompson, who was staying in one of the building’s rooms.

Police later spoke with Thompson in her room, where officers found a hairspray can matching the aerosol can they had previously found at the Islamic Center as well as a matching black dress the woman was wearing on video and a pink purse.

Thompson admitted to police that the woman in the surveillance video looked like her but claimed she didn’t remember doing anything and had slept the whole night besides getting up now and again.

She also claimed she didn’t know what the Islamic Center was and hadn’t known the bowling alley, where the Islamic Center was now located, had been replaced.

A breathalyzer test showed Thompson had no alcohol in her system when police spoke with them.