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A Fayetteville woman will be on probation for three years after she “flicked a cigarette” and started fire at a residence on Weaver Street last year.

The defendant Leshonda Reams, 36, was granted a three-year judicial diversion for aggravated arson and public intoxication after she entered pleas to the charges in Coffee County Circuit Court. The diversion means she can have her criminal record erased once her parole is successfully completed.

The incident happened at her boyfriend’s residence this past summer. Police spotted Reams leaving the scene where a structure was on fire.

“I observed a female walking away from a small structure fire,” the officer said of his observation while on routine patrol in the city, noting he detained the woman and called firefighters to the scene. “I placed her in the back of my patrol car while I got the victim out of the home.”

While the victim in the case was not keen about cooperating with lawmen concerning his girlfriend, Reams reportedly told police she and her boyfriend (the victim in this case) had been in a fight earlier. However, police said they saw no physical evidence to support her story and continued pressing her as to how the fire was started.

“She denied starting the fire,” police revealed of her claim of innocence, with lawmen pointing out she had originally told them she had never been to the home – something they found was untrue. “She smelled of smoke as she sat in the back of the patrol car.”

Reams eventually gave a statement to the fire marshal once he got to the scene of investigate the blaze.

“She stated that she did come out through the back of the house and may have ‘flicked a cigarette’ in the area where the fire started,” the police report revealed.