Jul 3, 2008 6:33 pm US/Pacific
$12K Reward Offered In Diablo Valley College Arson
PLEASANT HILL (BCN) ―
A $12,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for setting fire to Diablo Valley College's police services building on June 23, Pleasant Hill police announced Thursday.
Police have also released images taken from a surveillance video that appear to show a male suspect setting the fires, police said.
The suspect appears to be a white or light-skinned male wearing a camouflage jacket and cap. In two of the photos, he can be seen holding an ax in one hand while he throws what appears to be a flaming object onto debris piled next to a building.
In other photos the same male appears to be pouring liquid from a bottle onto a desk and into wastebasket inside the building.
The fire was reported at 2:20 a.m. in the police services building on the southeast end of campus on Golf Club Road in Pleasant Hill.
Firefighters were able to put out the fire in less than 20 minutes, but smoke, water and flames rendered the building uninhabitable and the college's police department has had to set up a temporary office in the Business/Foreign Language Community Conference Room.
Damages are estimated to be between $500,000 and $600,000, Contra Costa Community College spokeswoman Chrisanne Knox said.
Anyone with information about the fire is asked to call Detective Jason Kleven at (925) 288-4638 or Bay Area Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS. All calls are confidential, according to police.
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