PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KERO) — On Wednesday morning, the juvenile court in Tulare County held a dispositional hearing for one of the teenagers involved in the deadly library fire in Porterville in February 2020. That fire killed Porterville firefighters Patrick Jones and Captain Raymond Figueroa.
Figueroa was originally from Delano and was actually living in Bakersfield at the time of the fire, commuting to Porterville to work for that city’s fire department.
The teen sentenced Wednesday was found to be responsible for setting the fire. He was sentenced to a short-term program of up to six months in juvenile hall, counseling, and 100 hours of volunteer work.
He will be released to his family but will remain on probation. The court also ordered him to write an essay explaining why he did what he did, as well as letters of apology to both the Jones and Figueroa families.
The judge in the case found the teen responsible for the fire in August, determining that he had committed two counts of arson. The petitions for murder charges were dismissed, as well as an arson charge for the other teen arrested at the scene of the fire.
The teen sentenced on Wednesday will also have to follow a 9:00 pm to 6:00 am curfew and may not be in possession of lighters or matches once he is released.
On November 21st, there will be another hearing to assess the teen’s progress. At that time, the judge will have the discretion to decide if he needs to stay at juvenile hall or if he can serve the remainder of his 6 month program at home.
