MENDOCINO CO., 9/12/25 — A 41-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly burned down a cabin and tent in an effort to evict his sublet tenants in Manchester early Thursday morning, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s deputies and South Coast Fire Protection District crews were called to the fire about 4:45 a.m. in the 21000 block of Rancheria Road, off Mountain View Road.
One of the victims told deputies that Steven Roland Harper, the property’s primary tenant, was intoxicated and had been “threatening to burn their cabin and tent throughout the night if they did not leave his property,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
The cabin, tent, and personal belongings of the victims were completely destroyed, and the suspect also allegedly vandalized one of the tenants’ vehicles, the sheriff’s office said. Harper had left the scene by the time authorities arrived and was hiding inside his home about 30 feet away.
Deputies called out to him to surrender, and he eventually emerged and was taken into custody.
Harper was arrested and booked into Mendocino County Jail on suspicion of arson of an inhabited structure, felony vandalism over $400, and violation of probation.
He is being held without bail due to violating terms of his probation.
An arson investigator from the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority conducted an arson investigation into the fire.