Arson Hearing Held in Closed Court : Crime: Referee of the session refuses to say whether charges are filed against teen in $1-million Anaheim Hills blaze. The youth is not identified.

A veil of secrecy was thrown over the first court appearance Wednesday of a 17-year-old youth accused of starting the $1-million Anaheim Hills fire.

Juvenile Court Referee James S. Odriozola, who was required to close the hearing because of the youth’s age, refused to disclose if charges were filed against the Anaheim Hills teen-ager. The prosecutor and public defender were ordered not to discuss the case.

Fire officials have said there is sufficient evidence to charge the teen-ager with arson, and a source close to the case said prosecutors had intended to file arson charges against the teen-ager at the hearing.

Only the attorneys and boy’s family were allowed in the courtroom Wednesday.

After the hearing, the teen-ager’s family declined comment, as did his lawyer and the prosecutor.

The crime of arson ranges in severity from arson with malicious intent to unlawfully setting a fire through reckless behavior.

The closing of the hearing, however, indicated that the boy has not been charged with the more serious type of arson. State law requires that a juvenile’s hearing be open to the public if the youth is charged with arson of an inhabited building with malicious intent. Two dwellings were destroyed and 29 others were damaged in the Oct. 26 fire.

Before the hearing, the prosecutor and Anaheim arson investigators met for several hours to determine the most appropriate charge. Fire officials declined to say whether the teen-ager was acting maliciously or recklessly.

Earlier this week, before he had seen the investigative reports, Odriozola said that, if the young man was convicted of recklessly causing a fire, rather than the more severe arson charge, the youth would likely get probation, not confinement.

The charge of recklessly lighting a fire “is not a particularly grave offense,” Odriozola had said on Tuesday. Under state law, reckless is defined as being “aware of and consciously disregard(ing) a substantial . . . risk” that will cause a fire.

During interviews with investigators, the boy said he merely dropped a match and did not mean to cause the devastating wildfire, authorities said. He told investigators he was “just screwing around” when it happened.

Family and friends have also said the fire was an accident. They describe the youth, who dropped out of high school this year, as a good-natured, athletic teen-ager.

Arson investigators are adamant that the fire, which charred 750 acres of brush, was not an accident.

Anaheim fire officials, who had called a press conference earlier this week to announce the arrest, would not comment and referred calls to the district attorney.