Deputies Nab Arson Suspect At High School
A man with a history of arson at West Valley High School was caught starting two more fires early Tuesday.
Sheriff’s deputies grabbed David Jayne, 50, as he climbed a fence surrounding the school courtyard at about 2:20 a.m.
Jayne lit the fires inside the school’s boiler room, authorities said. He was charged with second-degree arson and second-degree burglary.
The fires were quickly extinguished, and damage to the school at 8301 E. Buckeye was minor, said Valley Fire Department investigator Eric Olson.
No classrooms were damaged and the school operated on a normal schedule Tuesday, said Principal Cleve Penberthy.
Jayne, a North Argonne resident who attended West Valley High in the 1960s, has twice been convicted of setting small fires at the school - once in 1969 and again in 1972.
He has four arson convictions and spent about 18 years in prison, records show.
Tuesday morning, sheriff’s deputies said Jayne climbed the fence and entered the boiler room through an open window. There, deputies said, Jayne set fire to debris in garbage cans.
When Jayne fled through a door, he tripped a silent burglar alarm, alerting deputies.
“They snuck up and waited for him,” said Sheriff’s Lt. David Wiyrick. “When he came out they grabbed him.”
Not knowing there was a fire, deputies assumed they had a burglary suspect until they smelled smoke, Wiyrick said.
Deputy Lyle Johnston looked inside the boiler room, saw flames shooting out of a garbage can and dragged the can outside. Johnston used a fire extinguisher to put out the second fire.
Fire investigator Olson said the West Valley fires may be the result of conflict between Jayne and the school.
“Whenever he gets mad at somebody, he holds a grudge,” Olson said.
A neighbor told a reporter in 1979 that Jayne loved school and deliberately flunked tests in order to stay. The neighbor said the school angered Jayne by expelling him when he was 21.
But Jayne also is obsessed with setting fires, Olson said. “We believe he’s a pyromaniac.”
Jayne’s arson convictions date back to 1967 when he was sent to prison for sparking a Valley restaurant fire.
Two years later, he was charged with the first two West Valley High fires. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 1979, he pleaded guilty to second-degree arson for nearly burning down Millwood Intermediate School. He was again sentenced to 10 years in prison.
City fire investigators wanted to charge Jayne with arson for trying to set fire to a lower South Hill apartment in 1993, but there was not enough evidence, said investigator Ernie Nye.
Instead, Jayne was charged and convicted of first-degree trespassing.
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