EL CAJON : 2 Charged in Setting Fires at Schools

Two men were arrested and charged with setting two school fires in El Cajon that caused about $200,000 in damage. El Cajon police said that half-brothers Robby Todd Johnson, 25, and David Arthur Northam, 20, set the arson fires that damaged Chase Avenue Elementary School last Sunday and Cuyamaca Elementary School on Wednesday.

The blaze caused about $130,000 damage to the Chase Avenue school, arson investigators said. Two classrooms were damaged by fire, and two others were damaged by smoke. The loss included about $30,000 in school furniture and supplies.

Three days after that blaze, fire struck the Cuyamaca Elementary School at 851 S. Johnson Avenue. A teachers’ lounge was heavily damaged in the fire. Both fires were set at night.

A team of arson investigators from the El Cajon Police and Fire departments concluded that both blazes were connected. The investigative team began looking at several suspects, but investigators declined to say what led them to Johnson and Northam.

El Cajon police would only say that lab technician Laurie Torres examined evidence recovered at the scene of both fires and matched it to evidence linked to one of the suspects. The brothers were arrested shortly after midnight Saturday without incident.

Each man was charged with eight counts of burglary and two counts of arson.