Four teenagers were arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with second degree arson in connection with the fire at Cherry Hall in April. They were also part of a group who was charged with arson in the cases of three other structure fires in Bowling Green.

The names of the juveniles were not released.

Jason Eric Green, 22, of Bowling Green was also charged with arson, but is not suspected to be involved with the Cherry Hall fire. Green is currently being held in the Warren County Regional Jail on a $5,000 cash bond.

None of the individuals charged has any known connection to Western, Wallace said. The reward that was offered for information in the case was also not a factor in the arrests.

Other structure fires that the individuals have been charged in connection with took place on Dec. 16, 2005 at 1362 Park St. and at 330 14th St. the same day and one on April 6 at 162 Butler Way, Wallace said.

The April 23 fire at Cherry started at about 1 a.m. It damaged an interactive television classroom and a few offices, causing about $500,000 in damages and cancellation of activities in the building for days after the incident.

Cherry was built in 1937 and originally housed more half of Western’s programs. Now it is home to the history, philosophy and religious studies and English departments.

The investigation and arrests were the result of a joint effort between campus police, the Bowling Green Fire Department and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, along with assistance from the Bowling Green Police Department, Wallace said. The agencies created a task force to investigate the crimes.

The arrests were announced during a press conference Friday. A parade of officials, who included Campus Police Chief Robert Deane, Bowling Green Fire Chief Gerry Brown, Bowling Green Police Chief Bill Waltrip, ATF Agent Kevin Kelm and Mayor Elaine Walker, also praised the teamwork that took place during the investigation.

“Bowling Green has the highest level of cooperation of law enforcement of any community I’ve seen,” Deane said.

Kelm said it was difficult for the task force to solve the crimes because of a lack of leads in the investigation.

“The arrests were the result of good old-fashioned investigative work,” he
said.

Check the Herald Web site later for further updates on this breaking story.

View Multimedia Slideshow from Cherry fire

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