Teen boy charged with arson at South Side home

YOUNGSTOWN — Police have charged a 14-year-old Youngstown boy with arson after a fire at a South Side home.

Firefighters responded to a call at 10:42 p.m. Wednesday at 427 W. Judson Ave., and found the fire had been intentionally set in multiple locations.

Crews battled flames on two floors and in the attic. Firefighters then found the first-floor back door open and shoe prints leading to a neighbor’s backyard in the fresh snow.

Firefighters called police, who later found a juvenile whose shoe prints matched the tracks leading from the house in a vacant lot nearby. The suspect’s gray and red Nike Air Flight tennis shoes were taken as evidence.

The boy was taken to Mahoning County's Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center. The fire caused an estimated $7,000 in damage, fire officials said today.