Crime & Safety

Sunlake Student Arrested For Arson

Officials say he set off a fire alarm at the school, causing an evacuation.

A 20-year-old Sunlake High School student remains in jail on $50,000 bond today after Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies say he activated a fire alarm on campus with a lighter or matches.

According to a Pasco County complaint affidavit, the school’s resource deputy received a call that a fire alarm was going off in one of Sunlake’s buildings and that it was filling with water. The building, the affidavit said, had to be evacuated.

When Pasco County Fire Rescue arrived, investigator Abbie Bennewitz told deputies “it took an open flame from a lighter or a match to set off the fire alarm,” the affidavit said.

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Following the incident, several students told the deputy who set off the alarm. Several students said the suspect told them he set it off. One witness said she saw the suspect remove his shirt and run into the hallway where the alarm was set. She then saw him run back in and pick up his shirt before fleeing, the report said.

The suspect was chared with arson because he “knew or had reasonable grounds to believe” the building was occupied, the affidavit said.

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It is unclear whether anything was damaged when the sprinklers were activated.

Arrested was David Riscile of 2546 Glenview Drive in Land O’ Lakes. He was being held on $50,000 bond today, charged with arson of an occupied structure.


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