Reo's Ribs arson suspect indicted

A grand jury indicted the woman accused of starting a fire at Portlands Reo’s Ribs, more than a month after the restaurant was badly damaged in the blaze.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- A grand jury indicted the woman accused of starting a fire at Portlands Reo’s Ribs, more than a month after the restaurant was badly damaged in the blaze.

The fire happened in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, at Reo’s Ribs on Northeast Sandy Boulevard in Portland’s Hollywood district. Crews arrived to smoke coming from the back of the building and discovered flames both on the exterior and interior. The blaze was quickly extinguished and no injuries were reported.

According to court documents, PPB officer stopped a woman -- now believed to be Jennifer Lynn Cole -- in the vicinity of the fire. She allegedly identified herself as "Anna Hadjeson" and spoke very quickly in a whisper that was "difficult to understand." Court documents describe Cole as being "twitchy" and appearing not to have had a shower in quite some time. She allegedly had a lighter, vape pen, and papers or magazines with her at the time, authorities said.

On December 18, a citizen called police to say that a woman sleeping outside his work was the same woman he had seen on the news the night before, in a story about the Reos' Ribs arson investigation. Officers arrested her later that day.

Cole was indicted on two counts of second-degree arson on Monday and remained in custody at the Multnomah County Jail as of Wednesday morning. She's expected back in court next week.

Reo’s was destroyed in another fire back in 2017 and reopened after rebuilding. That fire was determined to be accidental, but owner Reo Varnado said at the time he did not believe that.

Reo Varnado is also the uncle of Snoop Dogg, and was on his nephew’s cooking show with Martha Stewart filming a segment at the time of the 2017 fire.

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