Expelled Student Charged in $2.9-Million School Fire

A 17-year-old boy with a history of truancy problems was so angry at being expelled from Hoover High School in Glendale that he set it afire, causing $2.9 million in damage, police said Wednesday.

The unidentified youth, who was transferred from Hoover to a continuation high school in 1995, was arrested Tuesday night in connection with the Nov. 1 fire at Hoover, which gutted three classrooms, damaged 35 other rooms and forced the relocation of nearly 500 students to other campuses for more than two months.

He also stole computers and computer parts from school classrooms and left satanic markings on school walls, police said.

Also arrested was Zavar Manokian, 20, a former Glendale High School student, who is believed to have assisted in the crimes.

Police said the 17-year-old was a computer enthusiast and had stolen thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment from Hoover, Glendale High School and other campuses.

Police allege that the youth and Manokian broke into a third-floor physics classroom in Hoover’s science building some time after 12 a.m. on Nov. 1, stole a personal computer and then returned to the room to set it ablaze.

Manokian was to be arraigned today in Pasadena Superior Court, and the 17-year-old on Friday in Juvenile Court. Both face felony arson and burglary charges.