BLM Activist Claimed She Was the Victim of Hate Crimes Including Arson—Video Shows She Started the Fire

A student at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, claims she had been the victim of racist incidents, including arson. However, police discovered that the alleged victim of framed hate crimes was the one caught on surveillance video starting the fire in the university’s residence hall.

Viterbo University student Victoria Unanka is reported to have texted a friend on April 18, claiming that a small fire started in the girl’s residence hall must have been directed towards herself because it began in the next room over.

When police investigated the fire and reviewed security footage, authorities discovered that it was the same student who set the fire.

Unanka was then arrested for arson and negligent handling of burning materials but released on signature bond, the La Cross Tribune reported.

She is alleged to have told police she had been with friends the night of the fire and returned home around midnight when she prepared food and then went to the lounge to clean up. Unanka said she didn’t go anywhere else in the residence hall before returning to the dorm room. {snip}

Upon the police’s arrival, several students were discussing concerns that the fire was another hate crime incident. But when police reviewed security footage, which had been installed after reports of racist and threatening graffiti, of the residence hall, law enforcement noticed inconsistencies in Unanka’s claims.

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The fire, small enough not to trigger the sprinkler system, was extinguished with ease. {snip}

When police questioned Unanka’s version of events and what the security footage displayed, she changed the storyline and then admitted she intended to set the fire.

She claimed she decided against the fire and went back to the lounge after she went to the bathroom and attempted to clean up the smoking remnants of old food on the stove. She said the paper towels she used caught fire and she shook them out to try to extinguish the flames. She then tossed the tissue in the garbage can.

Unanka told police that she was frustrated that “no one was listening to me anymore” regarding the student’s other allegations of race-based hate crimes.

Viterbo University president Glena Temple said that the school was still investigating Unanka’s earlier claims of victimhood. “This is a complex situation that involves a series of concerning incidents,” Temple told the La Crosse Tribune, noting that the university will continue to investigate the incidents earlier in the semester and any potential link between the events and the fire in question.

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Unanka spoke at the on-campus Black Lives Matter rally in March where hundreds of students rallied around the black student. She claimed that the freshman’s own dorm room door was vandalized twice in one week with messages of racial hate. {snip}

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