NEW PORT RICHEY — Michelle Perrino employed some clever means of getting off work early without losing any pay: cutting the power to her office building, messing with the phone lines.
And, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, setting a fire.
Perrino, 39, of 8806 Roseanne Blvd., has been charged with first-degree arson of an occupied structure after a May 12 fire at Bayonet Point Oxygen, where she worked. She remained in jail Thursday with bail set at $150,000.
The investigation of the May 12 fire, which caused about $5,000 in damage, quickly pointed to her.
According to her arrest report, Perrino spoke up during an employee meeting after the fire, mentioning that it had started in a filing cabinet.
No other employees knew the fire's origin, the report says.
When an investigator first contacted her, Perrino said she had been a victim of several thefts in the office and had quit to take a job working for a doctor. She denied any involvement in the fire but would not take a lie-detector test.
Then, earlier this month, the investigator sat down with Perrino's former boyfriend. Lance Hunsher, according to the report, said Perrino often told him how she would sabotage her former employer, by throwing the main breaker on the building so it would lose power or disrupting the phones so no calls could come in.
"On at least three occasions Ms. Perrino told Mr. Hunsher that she had started a small fire in the office, again with the effect of being sent home early with pay," the report says.
Perrino's take on Hunsher's statements: He's making it up.
The report says she applied for and received a domestic violence injunction against Hunsher. She alleged he threatened her with a gun and set fire to her grass.
The investigator examined Perrino's yard, the report says, and saw no sign of a fire.
Workers at Bayonet Point Oxygen have noticed something too. Since Perrino left, there have been no more power outages, no more phones going haywire and no more fires.
Molly Moorhead can be reached at moorhead@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6245.
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