The purpose of this News Conference is to review the investigation of numerous arsons and arrests that have occurred over the past month.
A review of all fires within the community over a period of approximately 18 months (March 2007 through August 2008) revealed a significant number of fires, approximately 50, that had occurred throughout the community. The fires ranged from vehicle fires, trash can fires, dumpster fires, outdoor furniture that had been set on fire, grass fires, structure fires and park lands and parks equipment.
During the latter part of August the number and frequency of fires began to increase. As a result, the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety Patrol, Detectives and Prevention, the Josephine County Juvenile Department, Josephine County Parole and Probation, City of Grants Pass Parks Department met and formed a task force to share information and to work together to investigate these fires.
Prior to establishing the task force, Grants Pass Department of Public Safety Detectives and Prevention personnel had spent considerable hours and effort to canvas neighborhoods, collect evidence, and to question many people that may have been involved or have knowledge about the fires.
Citizens of the community has also come forward and offered reward money for the arrest and conviction of the person/s responsible for setting the Morrison Centennial Park fire. The reward rose to $2000.
As a result of the forming of the task force, the Josephine County Juvenile Department shared information that was instrumental in assisting in identifying a possible suspect. Development of that information subsequently led to the execution of a search warrant at Justin Lee Acuff's Bridge Street residence.
Information obtained during this search warrant led detectives to Roseburg, where detectives arrested Justin Lee Acuff and Tristan Canepa. Roseburg Police Department assisted this agency in locating the suspects. We appreciate the cooperation and assistance provided to us by the Roseburg Police Department.
Acuff was arrested for Arson 1, Manufacture and Possession of a Destructive Device and Canepa was arrested for Manufacture and Possession of a Destructive Device.
As a result of these arrests, detectives executed a search warrant at 101 Smokey Lane, the residence of Jonathon Davis. Davis was subsequently arrested on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Arson 1, Manufacture and Possession of a Destructive Device.
The investigation continued with a total of ten arrests and 33 fires being solved over a period of approximately one month. Those arrests included the following subjects:
- Justin Lee Acuff DOB: 072393 15 years old
- Tristan Loren Canepa DOB: 081093 15 years old
- Jonathon Robert Davis DOB: 070790 18 years old
- Christian Joshua Pederson-Ilagan DOB: 101992 15 years old
- Eric James Cox DOB: 101293 14 years old
- Anthony R. Viscetto DOB: 073193 15 years old
- Alexander D. Pederson-Ilagan DOB: 090394 14 years old
- Sean Kenneth Kemper DOB: 042593 15 years old
- Benjamin Jesse Havens DOB: 112292 15 years old
- Johnny Walter Amaral DOB: 100794 13 years old
(Acuff, Amaral, and Davis are currently the only subjects still in custody as of October 1, 2008)
One fire that remained outstanding late into September was the Morrison Centennial Park fire that had occurred on July 31, 2008. This fire created a significant and costly amount of damage to the playground equipment, estimated at approximately $40,000.
On September 30, 2008, detectives were able to solve this case with the arrest of Jonathon Davis, Justin Acuff, and Johnny Amaral. Acuff and Amaral were already lodged at the Josephine County Juvenile Detention Center on other arson related crimes.
Davis had previously been arrested and charged on other arson related crimes and had been released from the Josephine County Jail. Detectives went to his residence and arrested and lodged him in the Josephine County Jail.
I have available a spreadsheet that reflects the dates of the fires, case number, location of the fire, what was burned, who the victim was, the amount of damage, who was arrested for the fire, and the charges for each suspect. This should provide a better picture of how in depth this investigation was, how many months that the crimes spanned, and also the pattern that exists between all of the individuals.
As can be seen, Davis and Acuff were involved in the majority of the arsons. In those cases where other arrestees were involved in the fires, either Acuff or Davis were also present and participated.
Specific information is known to this agency as a result of this investigation.
- To our knowledge, no one was injured when setting the fires.
- To our knowledge, no one was injured as a result of the fires.
- These were deliberate fires.
- Numerous accelerants and types of manufactured/homemade devices were used.
At this time we are not discussing the specifics of the accelerants or the types of devices out of concern for the public should others attempt to use these same materials to create devices. Many of the accelerants were common household items, easily obtained chemicals, or accessible fuels. - Many of these fires occurred during night time hours - after curfew (11 pm in City).
- Damage, though in some cases limited, still had potential to cause significant damage or harm to other persons or property - as in the case of the urban wildland interface in the area of the old city water tower, "G" Street and Lincoln, "G" Street and Leonard, and NW "B" and NW Woodson.
- The reward money was not used for any information obtained that led to the arrests.
- In addition to the damage that was initially caused by the fires, estimated at almost $80,000 in the solved fires, there was a significant financial impact for the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety. It is difficult to put an exact time and dollar amount on the cost that this agency bore as a result of this investigation however we know that in excess of 300 hours of investigative and support time was exhausted while interviewing over a hundred individuals, responding to the many fires sites, collecting evidence, canvassing neighborhoods, and conducting follow-up investigations.
We commend the hard work and dedication of the Detectives and Support Staff that have spent many hours working on these cases. It is because of great team work with the Josephine County Juvenile Department, the Josephine County Parole and Probation, and the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety Prevention and Fire/Rescue personnel that we were as successful in resolving these cases.
I also wish to extend our thanks to the media for their continued interest and attention to this very serious issue.
