4 teens accused in arsons, vandalism

Police recently arrested four Spokane Valley teenagers after a mismatched paint job on one of their cars linked them to a fire at a grocery store.

Since then, court documents have connected the teens to at least $66,000 in burned or vandalized property and seven fires, racking up 18 felony arson charges among them so far.

The documents’ narrative starts just after 3 a.m. on July 13 when Justin Camyn and Ryan Williams, both 17, were accused of convincing a Spokesman-Review distribution center employee they needed 200 newspapers to fill in for a paper route.

Williams told police they drove to Opportunity Elementary with Jacob Levno and Randyl Wright, both 16, and threw several copies of the newspaper into a trash bin behind the school before setting it on fire with a cigarette lighter, according to a warrant to search Camyn’s car.

They then drove to Barney’s Harvest Foods on Dishman-Mica and to Yoke’s Fresh Market on Sprague and lit stacks of cardboard on fire behind the stores, the warrant states.

But a security camera at Barney’s caught a glimpse of a white sedan with a dark passenger door at the time of the fire.

The next day Spokane Valley police Sgt. Jim Gladden, having heard the description of the vehicle earlier, came across a White Chrysler LeBaron with a dark red door while on patrol near 32nd and Woodlawn and pulled it over.

Camyn was driving, according to the warrant, and in a later interview he told police he had been involved in the Barney’s fire and gave police the names of his friends, listing a false last name for one of them.

The suspects left Yoke’s to “blow up cars,” according to a statement in the warrant from Williams, whom police interviewed next. He was drunk at the time, he told them, and couldn’t remember whether they had tried to ignite three or four vehicles by stuffing newspaper in their gas tanks and lighting it.

According to a statement from Wright, they dropped off Levno after leaving Yoke’s.

Early the same morning, Norma Warwick’s doorbell rang, and she went out a side door to find a deputy spraying a fire with a garden hose on the front porch.

According to statements in the warrant, Williams filled a recycling box with paper and lit it on her doorstep at the Charbonneau Apartments after abandoning the cars.

“If we hadn’t seen it, it could have set the whole place on fire,” said Warwick, who manages the apartments.

In a later search warrant, police connected Williams to a fire that caused about $50,000 in damage to Ponderosa Elementary on July 5.

Williams told police he set off fireworks in vents on the roof of the school, the warrant states.

Williams also told police he had used his blue 1983 Toyota pickup to drive his friends around while they threw rocks and bricks at cars or swung stolen golf clubs at mail boxes, according to a warrant to search the truck.

Police received several reports of smashed car windows and other acts of vandalism the same week as the fires and have said they now believe many of the incidents are related to the arson cases.

Paint missing from the front of Williams’ pickup also connected him to an incident at the Painted Hills Golf Course the same day as the fires, the warrant states.

A vehicle rammed through a gate there and drove over a green at the Chester Creek Par 3 course and fairways on the main course.

Greenskeepers are assessing the damage to the gate and grass. If any of the greens are damaged permanently, they cost about $100 per square foot to replace, said owner Tim McElhinny.

All in all, police surmise as many as 30 crimes could be linked to the four juveniles now awaiting their day in court.