An Odessa woman who was arrested in April after her husband told police she tried to set him on fire was placed on five years’ deferred probation Friday and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
If Shariet Verone Cooper-Bowlen successfully completes probation, the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge filed against her will be dismissed.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, officers received a disturbance call around 5:30 p.m. April 29. When officers arrived at the home in the 5200 block of Clinton Avenue, a man told officers that Cooper-Bowlen, his wife of 14 years, attempted to “light him on fire” by throwing matches at him and placing a lit match on his skin.
The man said he knocked the matches out of her hands, but she grabbed a kitchen knife and pointed it at him in a threatening manner, according to the report. He told the officers he grabbed the knife from her, cutting his hand in the process, but she grabbed a second one.
At this point, the husband “claimed to have defended himself,” the report said.
According to the report, officers observed a visible burn mark on the husband’s forearm, a small cut on the inside of his right hand and multiple burned and unburned match sticks on the floor.
Cooper-Bowlen admitted to throwing lit matches at her husband, the report said. She was booked into the Ector County jail on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon/family violence.
She entered a plea agreement Friday and was sentenced by Judge James Rush of the 244th Ector County District Court.
