Pryor Middle School student charged with arson (with VIDEO)

FORT WALTON BEACH -- A 13-year-old Pryor Middle School student has been charged with arson for the Sept. 25 fire in a mobile home at Pinecrest Mobile Home park.

The boy was arrested June 25 and released to his mother.

Watch a video of the mobile home fire.

The fire, which started in a vacant mobile home, was investigated by the State Fire Marshal. There were no utilities connected to the mobile home at the time of the fire, the report said.

The investigator said that the home was damaged so extensively it was difficult to find the heat source. But while he was investigating the fire, he spoke with the boy, who was living in the mobile home park at the time. The boy said he'd walked right by the mobile home, which was not burning at the time, and gone home.

On April 13, the State Fire Marshal's office received a tip from another 13-year-old that the boy who had talked to the investigator was the one who started the fire.

The youth who called in the tip said the suspect had told him he poured some oil in a hole in the floor and then threw some lit cigarettes in the hole, according to the boy's arrest report.

A witness then told the investigator that he'd seen a young boy standing in the doorway of the unit that burned about 15 minutes before he noticed smoke from the fire. That witness later identified the suspect from a photo lineup.

The investigator interviewed the suspect at his school, with the resource officer present. The boy told him that he had permission from the trailer's owner to go inside the home "as long as I don't burn it down."

He said that on that afternoon, two black males were following him and that he saw them looking into the open door of the mobile home. He said he then saw a "black hand" flipping a cigarette inside the mobile home.

Later, he admitted that he had lied about there being two black males. He said he did look inside of the home and that he had smoked cigarettes in there before. He said he did not go in the unit on the day of the fire.

When the investigator told the boy he'd given several different versions, the boy said he'd like to "stick to" the second story. When asked which story that was, the boy said it was the one where he looked inside but didn't do anything else.

Damage to the mobile home is estimated at $1,000.