On Sunday, Riverside police found two smoldering fires burning in the apartment building where Lopez and her husband had been living rent-free for two weeks after a former resident moved out early, police said.
According to Riverside police, Lopez fell asleep on April 27 and when she awoke, discovered that her marijuana was missing. She confronted her husband and accused him of ingesting it without her. The argument escalated, and Lopez then used perfume to douse the hallway of the apartment building before setting it on fire.
Lopez stated to police that she had started the fire because she was upset with her husband for smoking the marijuana without her present.
"The tenants inside the building are lucky to be alive. The two elderly tenants that live in the basement, both in their late 80s and early 90s, one is blind and the other is deaf. There's no possible way these individuals could have made it out of the apartment on their own if the building had become fully engulfed," said Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel.
Thirty-three-year-old Lopez was charged with one count of aggravated arson. Her bond was set at $20,000 on Tuesday.
