LA Times
Boy, 13, charged with setting brush fire near Morris Dam
September 18, 2009
A 13-year-old El Monte boy was charged today with two felonies for allegedly being the arsonist who started the Morris Dam Fire on Aug. 25 that burned more than 2,100 acres north of Azusa, prosecutors said.
The youth, whose name was withheld by prosecutors because of his age, is accused of felony arson of a forest and recklessly causing a fire to a forest or structure. Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said the boy is not in custody and is scheduled to appear in Pomona Juvenile Court Nov. 17.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detectives working with investigators from the U.S. Forest Service and the Los Angeles County Fire Department determined the cause of the fire was arson.
Robison said the investigators are not revealing yet how the fire was ignited, but the boy was among a group of people forest service personnel knew were in the area at the time the fire began.
If a Los Angeles judge finds the boy guilty, he could face sentencing ranging from probation to placement in a juvenile facility until the age of 25, according to Robison.