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Accused arsonist allegedly stole car from Warren County for drive to Oil City

More details are coming to light in the case of Jonathan Young, suspected of arson in New York state and being held in Butler County, Pa.

Young, 19, of Kennedy, N.Y., is suspected of several arsons in the city of Jamestown, N.Y., that occurred between March 2 and March 25 and included occupied and abandoned buildings, debris piles near homes, and garages. The last fire was set on March 25, and Jamestown police believe that Young acted alone in setting the fires.

Young was arrested in Slippery Rock, Pa., nearly 100 miles south of Jamestown, on March 28 minutes after he allegedly broke into a vacant house and set it on fire, according to an April 8 Times Observer article by Post-Journal staff writer A.J. Rao.

According to a criminal complaint filed through District Justice Laura Bauer’s office on Friday, April 7, Young is facing charges in Warren County as well, stemming from an incident that occurred between the evening of March 26 and the morning of March 27.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on March 27 Dale Lundmark contacted state police in Warren to report that his 2017 Toyota Corolla had been stolen from his garage. Lundmark told police that his wife had been up early that morning to work out in a detached garage separate from their home, and had left both the attached garage and kitchen doors unlocked after going out to the separate building. When she came inside from working out, Lundmark said, his wife found the garage door open and the car missing.

On April 5, police were contacted by state police in Butler who said that the Lundmark’s car had been recovered in Oil City and that Young had been the one driving it.

Young told Butler PSP that he’d walked from N.Y. into Pennsylvania on Route 62 and entered Lundmark’s garage, went into his kitchen and took the car keys from a key holder inside, and then drove the car to Oil City. Young allegedly told police that he ditched the car in Oil City around 6 a.m. because he didn’t want to be in a “‘hot’ car after it had been reported stolen.”

Young appeared at his preliminary hearing in Butler on Wednesday, April 5, during which time a PSP trooper told the court that Young “confessed to setting” the fire in Butler County the he was arrested at the scene of.

Young is currently being held in the Butler County Correction Facility.

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