2 Arrested in $500,000 School Vandalism Case

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Lancaster man and a 16-year-old youth Friday in connection with an arson and vandalism rampage that caused more than $500,000 in damage to a Lancaster elementary school this week.

Michael Ivan Smith, 21, was being held at the Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Station on suspicion of arson, vandalism and burglary. He was being held without bail pending a judge’s decision on a request by deputies for $300,000 bail. Sheriff’s arson investigator Dan Watters said he requested the high bail because of the extent of the damage and because of information that Smith and the youth had planned to flee to Arizona.

The juvenile was being held at Sylmar Juvenile Hall pending a court appearance Monday.

The two confessed to breaking into Sierra Elementary School shortly before 3:26 a.m. Wednesday, setting a fire that gutted three classrooms and smashing computers and televisions with a hammer, deputies said.

The suspects, who live near the school, said they had been drinking and decided to vandalize the school as they walked back to Smith’s house from a convenience store, deputies said.

“They were mad about the way things were going in their lives,” Watters said. “They said they decided it would be a good way to take vengeance on society.”

Smith is unemployed and the juvenile, who described himself as a carpenter, is a dropout who lives with a relative and whose mother lives in Arizona, Watters said. Neither appear to have any connection to the school, he said.

The two were arrested at Smith’s home about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Watters said. He would not say how the two were identified except that an informant had helped.

Watters said a hammer and clothes stained by the same type of glue that was poured around the school were recovered as evidence at the time of the arrest. The debris at the school was spattered with blood. Watters said both suspects had cuts on their hands. He said Smith told investigators that the bloodstains resulted because he was swinging the hammer with a bloody hand.

The estimate of arson and vandalism damage, originally $325,000, has been increased to more than $500,000, authorities said.