Teen sentenced for setting house, car on fire

A Vancouver teenager was sentenced Thursday to two years’ incarceration for pouring gasoline on a Vancouver house and vehicle, then setting fire to the property after arguing with some of the home’s residents.

In an agreement with prosecutors, Mycole J. Brannon, 16, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to two counts of second-degree arson. In exchange, Deputy Prosecutor Michael Vaughn agreed to dismiss a charge of first-degree arson. Vaughn and Brannon’s defense attorney, Ed Dunkerly, jointly recommended the sentence of two years, which Judge David Gregerson agreed to impose.

Brannon was remanded to adult court because of the seriousness of the charge.

He and some of his friends had been involved in a verbal disturbance with several residents of a home in the 1300 block of Northeast 104th Avenue in Vancouver’s Marrion neighborhood, according to a court affidavit by Vancouver police Detective Erik Jennings.

Brannon and his friends returned to the residence at about 4:30 a.m. April 27, while most of the residents were asleep inside. Brannon tossed gasoline on the north side of the house and ignited it with a lighter, Jennings wrote. One of the male residents stepped out to see what was happening and saw what Brannon was doing, according to the affidavit. He chased Brannon but stopped when he saw a vehicle on fire on the north end of the property, Jennings wrote.

The flames were extinguished on the home and the car. Jennings said the damage was minimal. It’s unclear whether the residents put out the fire, but Vancouver firefighters were never called to the residence, according to the Vancouver Fire Department.

Fifteen people were inside the home at the time of the fire, Jennings wrote. Brannon admitted to setting the fire because he was “drunk and angry,” he wrote.

No one was injured. Brannon had no previous criminal history.

As a juvenile convicted in adult court, Brannon will be transported to a special juvenile-only unit at Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, processed and then transferred to a juvenile facility, said Norah West, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Corrections.