Third suspect in Colby Fire convicted of felony

By SHEL SEGAL
A 23-year-old transient was convicted on May 22 of one felony and one misdemeanor for inadvertently starting the Jan. 16 Colby Fire in the mountains north of Glendora that charred 1,952 acres, injured six people and destroyed five homes, according to a published report.
Jonathan Jarrell was found guilty of “one felony charge of unlawfully setting timber afire, and a misdemeanor charge of illegally starting a fire,” U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Thom Mrozek said in a written statement.
In addition, the jury could not reach a decision on two fire-related additional misdemeanor charges.
One civilian and five firefighters were hurt during the fire, according to that report.
Two other men had already been con
Jarrell has been charged with “setting fire to timber, grass and underbrush in the Angeles National Forest by building a campfire; violating a fire restriction order by using a fire outside a recreation site in the forest; causing timber, trees, brush and grass to burn in the forest without a permit; and causing and failing to maintain control a fire that damaged the national forest system,” according to that report.
Two men who Jarrell knew were tried separately and each convicted by a federal jury in Los Angeles on May 16 of “one felony count of unlawfully setting timber afire and three other misdemeanor charges related to illegally starting a campfire,” according to that report.
Convicted on those four counts were Clifford Eugene Henry, 22, of Glendora and 21-year-old transient Steven Robert Aguirre. Sentencing is set to take place on Aug. 4 in a Los Angeles federal court with the two facing a maximum of six and a half years in prison, according to that report.
The prosecution has also set it will seek restitution, and while the amount hasn’t been set yet it is believed to me in the millions, according to that report.
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com. He can be followed via Twitter @segallanded.)

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