Student expelled, arrested for Oak Harbor High School arson
February 1, 2010 · Updated 10:30 AM
Police arrested a 10th-grade student in connection to two fires at Oak Harbor High School this week.
Detective Mike Bailey with the Oak Harbor Police Department said investigators identified the student from surveillance videos and interviews. The boy was arrested on suspicion of criminal trespass in the second degree and first-degree arson.
Monday, a custodian discovered a trash can fire in the boys bathroom, just outside the domed field house, shortly after school ended for the day. He used a fire extinguisher to douse the fire, but not before it melted the trash can to the floor.
Smoke and the smell of burned plastic filled the building. High school staff members were evacuated and the Oak Harbor Fire Department used fans to clear the halls.
A short while later, investigators found burned paper in a different boys bathroom, where it appeared someone tried to light rolled paper towels on fire.
Bailey said the Oak Harbor High School student allegedly started both fires.
The student was banned from the high school’s main campus in December, Bailey said, for other incidents. He was attending the high school’s North Campus, a temporary facility for sophomores and freshmen during the high school modernization project.
Bailey said school officials expelled the 10th-grader for the rest of the year.
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