RIVERSIDE: Two juveniles arrested after suspected arson fire

RIVERSIDE – Officers arrested two juveniles after they allegedly started a fire at an abandoned building Thursday, Dec. 8. The suspected arson fire was started in the 4000 block of Brockton Avenue in the City of Riverside.

City of Riverside emergency dispatchers received a call of a possible structure fire. A witness who had called 911 to report that she saw smoke coming from an abandoned building described seeing two juveniles running from the location after the fire was started.

When they arrived at the scene of the fire, officers from the North Problem Oriented Policing Team were able to locate the juveniles and detain them for further investigation.

City of Riverside firefighters responded to the fire and were able to extinguish the fire.

During their investigation, Riverside Fire Department arson investigators and Riverside Police POP Officers determined that the juveniles started the fire then fled from the scene.

Both juveniles were arrested and later released to their respective caregivers. Officers will be forwarding Juvenile Petitions to Riverside’s Juvenile Court for disposition.

Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Riverside Fire Department’s Arson Investigator Zach Pettikas at (951) 351-6481 or Riverside Police Officer Ronel Newton at (951) 826-8714.

 

Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.