Two charged in Adventist school fire

A self-proclaimed devil worshipper, a reportedly disgruntled former student and two others were arrested Tuesday in connection with an early-morning fire that burned the Lake City Junior Academy library.

The private, Seventh-day Adventist school at 111 E. Locust Ave. in Coeur d’Alene serves students in preschool through 10th grade. Students at the school are on summer vacation.

“We’re just grateful,” Principal Ron Turner said Tuesday. “It could have been a lot worse.”

The fire was reported at 2 a.m. by an attendant at a nearby gas station, Coeur d’Alene fire Inspector Glen Lauper said. Coeur d’Alene police Officer Greg Moore – who Turner said has a child in the preschool – was first to respond and attempted to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. He also saw two people running from the area.

“He emptied his extinguisher on the fire and really knocked the fire down for us,” Lauper said. He credited Moore with helping contain the fire to the library.

Black soot covered the walls and ceiling, and the acrid smell of smoke hung in the air Tuesday. Turner said he believes many of the books can be salvaged.

Damage to the library was estimated at $30,000.

Coeur d’Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood said Turner gave police the name of a 19-year-old “disgruntled former student.” The man and a 17-year-old girl are facing charges of accessory to a felony.

Neither of the suspects’ names were released by police because charges have yet to be filed. Wood said both are residents of Coeur d’Alene.

Rathdrum resident Jason Howry, 20, and Athol resident Jacqueline Smith, 16, were charged Tuesday and booked into the Kootenai County Jail on charges of first-degree arson, police said. Smith is charged as an adult.

Detectives said the four conspired to “burn something down” and chose the school. They reportedly went to the school together, but police said the two unnamed suspects decided to leave before the fire was started.

Smith allegedly broke the library window with a rock and, together with Howry, poured gasoline into the building. Police said Smith lit a piece of paper on fire and tossed it inside.

Wood said Smith told detectives she practiced the Wiccan religion and that Howry proclaimed he was a “Satan worshipper.”

She said a possible motive for the crime is unclear.