Man arrested in Redlands school fires, church burglary

A 21-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of setting three fires at or near Redlands High School and burglarizing a classroom and a neighboring church.

Robert Aaron Trujillo of Mentone was arrested Wednesday night.

Police said forensic evidence linked Trujillo to a burglary at the Church of Nazarene, two fires set at the school district’s transportation yard and the burglary and arson of a Redlands High School classroom.

Police did not release a motive for the alleged arson, but said they have determined that Trujillo never attended the high school.

Police said they also located stolen property from the school that had been left behind at the church. When Trujillo was arrested, detectives said they found stolen property from the church in his possession.

Redlands firefighters were dispatched to the Redlands Unified School District transportation yard about 4 a.m. Wednesday, where they found a school bus and utility trailer engulfed in flames.

The bus and trailer were destroyed and a second bus and trailer were damaged, authorities said.

While firefighters were fighting the blazes, they received another call about a fire in a portable classroom about half a block away on the Redlands High School campus. That fire destroyed one classroom on the school’s north campus.

No one was injured in the blazes, which happened during the school’s spring break.

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