A 14-year-old Stafford boy was found guilty Friday of second-degree felony arson after destroying his parents’ garage.
The boy, unidentified because he’s a juvenile, is scheduled for sentencing April 21 in County Court at Law #1.
“This is the type of crime that we can’t afford to take lightly,” said Tyra McCollum, chief of the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Juvenile Prosecution Division, who prosecuted the case. “It’s just too easy for fires to burn out of control.”
According to court records, the boy poured gasoline in a figure-eight shape on the floor of his parents’ detached garage, on November 15, 2005, and set it ablaze with a cigarette lighter.
The fire quickly spread to the rest of the building, which could not be saved. According to records, heat from the fire scorched the next-door neighbor’s home.
At his trial, the juvenile agreed that he had intentionally started the fire, but said he didn’t mean to burn the garage. The jury disagreed with his story, prosecutors noted, and determined that he intended to set fire to his parents’ garage.
The case was heard before Judge David Hunter in County Court at Law #1. McCollum prosecuted the case with the assistance of Fred Edwards,
Assistant District Attorney. Bill Patillo represented the defendant.
