Jonathan Young

A western New York man, charged with allegedly starting a fire in a vacant house in Slippery Rock, waived extradition in Butler County Court of Common Pleas Tuesday and will be returned to New York after being wanted in that state on a string of similar crimes.

Jonathan H. Young, 19, of Jamestown, N.Y., was wanted in his hometown after being charged with intentionally setting a dozen fires there between March 2 and 25, mostly at abandoned or condemned homes and apartments, according to police in Jamestown, N.Y.

He waived extradition before Butler County Judge Timothy McCune Tuesday.

Young was charged in Butler County with three felony counts of arson, theft and burglary-related charges after an incident on Davis Lane near Route 8 on March 28.

In the Butler County incident, Young was allegedly arrested minutes after the intentional fire badly damaged a two-story vacant home. A neighbor reported seeing a man wearing a back pack and carrying an American flag on a stick walking near the house moments before the fire. Young was found in the Wieners Gone Wild hot dog shop on Route 8 and matched the description of the suspect, but had no identification at the time and gave officers a bogus name, leading investigators to charge him as “John Doe.”

No one was injured as a result of the fire, but a Harrisville volunteer firefighter had to be treated for chest pains while battling the blaze.

Following his true identification, Jamestown police charged him with the string of arsons in Chautauqua County, N.Y.

State police in Warren County also charged Young with felony burglary, theft and misdemeanor loitering and prowling at night after they say he broke into a home and stole a car in Pine Grove Township between March 26 or 27, a day or two after he allegedly set his last fire in New York and a day or two before he allegedly set the fire in Slippery Rock Township.

In that case, Young is accused of breaking into the attached garage at a home, unlocking the door of the home and taking a set of car keys before stealing a 2017 Toyota Corolla, which was eventually recovered in the Oil City area in Venango County.

During Young’s preliminary hearing in Butler County, Trooper Christopher Balcik testified that they found incriminating evidence in the man’s back pack, including two cigarette lighters, a hammer, screwdriver and a wrench, which were found to have been stolen from the Slippery Rock home.

He also said that after Young was detained, police noticed sawdust in the treads of Young’s shoes, and believe that came from a makeshift wood shop at the home.

Young eventually confessed to setting the Slippery Rock Township fire with a cigarette lighter, Balcik said. He claimed that he had no home and “bounces around from place to place scavenging for what he needs to survive,” according to court documents. He told investigators that at the time of the fire he was walking on his way to the hot dog shop after spending the night in the woods. He said that he was planning to walk to Virginia.

Young was held in the Butler County Prison on $75,000 cash bail. He was represented by Charles Nedz, a public defender.