PORT ANGELES — A 16-year-old Clallam County boy was arrested Monday on investigation of second-degree arson for allegedly setting fire to the State Patrol weigh station near U.S. Highway 101 and Old Olympic Highway east of Port Angeles.
Clallam County sheriff’s deputies did not identify the boy because he is a juvenile.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Lyman Moores said the boy will be charged in Clallam County Superior Court today.
The Sheriff’s Office took the lead in the investigation after a Border Patrol officer discovered the fire in the early-morning hours of Feb. 2.
The suspect was booked into the Clallam County Family Juvenile Services Detention Center on Sunday on an unrelated assault investigation and confessed that he had set fire to the weigh station.
Deputies said he confessed that he ran from the scene — careful to remove all evidence such as the gas can and matches — and watched from across the highway as agents from the U.S. Border Patrol extinguished the fire.
He also confessed that he had returned to the scene several days later to assess the damage he had caused to the weigh station, deputies said.
Black singe marks were found at the bottom of a door.
State Patrol Sgt. Brett Yacklin of the Port Angeles detachment said the small building, which troopers use to operate the scales, was not damaged beyond the singe marks.