Young suspect cleared in store fire

Keith Paul

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

An 11-year-old suspect in a string of fires last week will not face charges in a blaze that gutted a convenience store under construction and caused $500,000 worth of damage.

"At this time the evidence does not point towards the young man," said Steve La-Sky, a Clark County Fire Department spokesman. "The fire remains under investigation."

La-Sky would not release any more details of the blaze, but another fire official said the convenience store fire was started with a flammable liquid -- unlike the nine other fires the boy is accused of starting Aug. 2.

The fire department's arson detection dog, Wren, sniffed out flammable liquid in several spots in the burned-out building on Charleston Boulevard and Arden Street.

The 11-year-old boy was originally booked into the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center Aug. 2 accused of the costly convenience store blaze, six other fires in businesses and three vehicle fires on Nellis Boulevard between Charleston Avenue and Stewart Avenue Aug. 2.

The boy still faces charges in the other fires, La-Sky said.

In all the fires except the convenience store, the blaze was started in trash cans or paper stuffed into duct work and ignited with a lighter.

The boy was held in the juvenile jail this morning, but he was in a single-bed cell after he was reportedly sexually assaulted by his 12-year-old cellmate over the weekend.

"We did have an incident that occurred alleging sexual assault," said Kirby Burgess, director of the county's Department of Family and Youth Services, which oversees the juvenile jail.

Lt. Tom Monahan of Metro Police's sexual assault unit said detectives questioned those involved in the incident and forwarded the results to the Clark County District Attorney's Office to determine if charges will be filed.

Burgess said overcrowding at the at the facility designed to house 112 juveniles forces some cells to be used to hold two children. On Tuesday the juvenile jail housed 172 children.

"We try to make sure to place kids in rooms with other kids of like size, age and crime," Burgess said.

Apparently the 11-year-old boy yelled out and jail staff came into the cell. The 12-year-old didn't have a sexual assault crime in his past.