Jonathan Young

ROCHESTER – The Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office will make its case next month for overturning a suppression of evidence decision in the upcoming trial of a Jamestown man accused of starting numerous fires in March 2017.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Flaherty Jr. will appear before the state’s 4th Appellate Division on Dec. 2 to argue an appeal of an April 2019 ruling by Chautauqua County Court Judge David Foley when he said evidence gathered by Police in Pennsylvania is inadmissible against Jonathan Young in his New York trial.

Young faces a 25-count indictment in Chautauqua County Court that includes 13 felony arson charges. He’s accused of setting more than a dozen fires in Jamestown and Falconer between March 2-25, 2017. He was indicted by a Chautauqua County Grand Jury on two counts of second-degree arson, 11 counts of third-degree arson, one count of fifth-degree arson and 11 counts of second-degree criminal mischief. The most serious charge, second-degree arson, carries a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.

Young was also accused of fleeing into Pennsylvania as investigators in Jamestown were closing in on him as a suspect. He was eventually arrested for stealing a vehicle in Warren County as well as starting another fire in Butler County. He was held for prosecution for his crimes in Pennsylvania and, in April 2018, Young reached a plea agreement involving his Pennsylvania charges. He was then extradited back to Chautauqua County to answer to his charges here.

A pretrial hearing was held on April 1, 2019 in Chautauqua County Court and that is when Judge Foley ruled evidence to be inadmissible. At issue is whether or not statements made by Young to police in Pennsylvania at the time of his arrest can be used as evidence in his New York trial. Specifically, Pennsylvania detectives questioned Young about one of the arson cases that occurred in New York and the County DA’s office wants to use those statements as evidence.  But Foley ruled that at the time of his statements, Young waived his right to an attorney to be present during questioning only for the Pennsylvania charges and not the New York charges. As a result, Foley said the statements should be inadmissible in the New York trial.  In making his decision he cited the Court of Appeals case, People v. Lopez – which held that a detective violated a man’s indelible right to counsel by questioning him on unrelated New York charges without first obtaining a written waiver from his Pennsylvania attorney.

Jury selection in Young’s trial was to begin in March of this year in Chautauqua County Court. It’s been on hold since Foley’s ruling because the DA’s office filed for an appeal in the State Appellate Division.

Young is being represented by the Chautauqua County Public Defender’s Office.

Jonathan Young

MAYVILLE – The trial of a local man facing more than two dozen charges related to a series of arsons that took place over two years ago has been put on hold indefinitely.

According to the Jamestown Post-Journal, a pretrial hearing for Jonathan Young took took place Monday in Chautauqua county Court, with judge David Foley ruling that some evidence that would be used was inadmissible.  As a result, District Attorney Patrick Swanson has opted to challenge that ruling via an appeal, putting Young’s trial on hold until after the appeal process is over.

Young was arrested in March 2017 in Butler County, Pennsylvania following a string of arsons that took place in the Jamestown and Falconer area. He’s accused of fleeing the area when the investigation into the fires was closing in on him. He’s already been convicted for stealing a vehicle in Warren County, PA and also setting fire to an abandoned house in Butler County, PA.

After being prosecuted in Pennsylvania, Young was returned to Chautauqua County so he could go to trial on 25 counts. He was arraigned on the local charges last summer and the trial was to finally begin this week.

However, on Monday the Judge Foley reviewed evidence involving testimony collected by both New York and Pennsylvania police following Young’s arrest, and ruled that some of it was inadmissible because Young was questioned about unrelated New York charges by Pennsylvania police without first obtaining a written waiver from his Pennsylvania attorney.

Swanson will appeal the ruling and it’s not know when the New York 4th Appellate Division will take up the matter. The trial will be on hold until the matter is dealt with.

It’s the second time the trial was delayed. It initially was to take place in January after Young rejected a plea deal from the DA’s office.

Jonathan Young

MAYVILLE – The Jamestown man accused of setting multiple fires in the city and in Falconer early 2017 has finally been arraigned on his local charges.

The Jamestown Post-Journal says 20-year-old Jonathan Young was arraigned on a 25-count indictment that includes 13 felony arson charges.

Young stands accused of setting a dozen fires in March 2017, including a major fire in the business district of Falconer that affected several businesses and residences.

The delay in his arraignment was due to his court proceedings in Pennsylvania, where he faced charges related to arson in Butler County. and vehicle theft in Warren County. He reached a plea agreement in both those cases and was sentenced, allowing his arson cases in Chautauqua County to now move forward.

Shortly after his arrest, Young was indicted by a Chautauqua County grand jury on two counts of second-degree arson, 11 counts of third-degree arson, one count of fifth-degree arson and 11 counts of second-degree criminal mischief.

The most serious charges carry a sentence of up to 25 years in prison for each count.

Young pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Thursday in Chautauqua County Court and was remanded back to the Chautauqua County Jail on $1 million cash bail.

A pre-trial conference has been scheduled Oct. 1 between the DA’s office and Young’s attorney in the Public Defender’s Office.

Jonathan Young

WARREN, PA – The Jamestown man who was charged with multiple counts of arson in 2017 has been sentenced in his burglary case in Warren County, Pennsylvania.

The Post-Journal is reporting that 21-year-old Jonathan Young pleaded guilty Monday to felony theft by unlawful taking, movable property and misdemeanor loitering and prowling at night time. Young – who is accused of setting nearly a dozen fires in Jamestown and Falconer in March 2017, is believed to have fled the area to avoid arrest and stole a vehicle in Warren County.  The charges he pleaded guilty to this week were in connection to that vehicle theft.

Young was sentenced to 39 to 78 days in jail in relation to the vehicle theft incident.

Young was already prosecuted for an arson charge in in Butler County, Pennsylvania, where he was eventually captured and brought into custody.  For his involvement in setting fire to an abandoned structure there, he was sentenced to 15-30 months in prison.

Young also faces multiple counts of arson for allegedly setting the 12 separate fires in Jamestown and Falconer. With the cases in Pennsylvania now prosecuted, his prosecution case in Chautauqua County could soon get underway.

Jonathan Young

BUTLER, PA – The 19 year-old Jamestown man accused of being responsible for a dozen arsons in the Jamestown area earlier this year appeared in a Pennsylvania court room on Tuesday to answer to his charges there.

The Jamestown Post-Journal say 19 year-old Jonathan Young appeared in Butler County court to be formally charged with a laundry list of charges – including two counts of first-degree arson, second-degree arson and two counts of third-degree arson. Other charges include criminal mischief, criminal trespass, as well as misdemeanors of motor vehicle theft and possessing an instrument of crime with intent.

Young is scheduled to return to Butler County Court on June 5. He is currently being held at the Butler County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail.

Young was apprehended March 28 in Slippery Rock, Pa., minutes after allegedly setting a vacant home ablaze.

He’s also been linked to 12 separate arsons in Jamestown and Falconer in March, including the fire that devastated downtown Falconer.

Young is expected to answer charges in Chautauqua County Court after proceedings in Pennsylvania are complete.

Jonathan Young

BUTLER, PA – A court appearance for Jonathan Young, the local man accused of 12 arsons during the course of one month in the Jamestown area, has been scheduled for May 16 in Butler Co., Pennsylvania.

Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings announced last week that young was the suspect allegedly involved in the arsons that began on March 2 in Jamestown and continued for much of the month, including the March 22 fire in downtown Falconer that displaced more than a dozen residents and at least four businesses.

Young was arrested at the end of March in Butler County, Pa. after he allegedly set fire to an abandoned house near Slippery Rock. According to an article in the Jamestown Post-Journal, faces several charges in Pennsylvania, including two counts of first-degree arson, second-degree arson, two counts of third-degree arson, along with misdemeanors of motor vehicle theft. He is currently being held in Butler County on $75,000 bail.

Young is expected to answer charges in Chautauqua County Court after proceedings in Pennsylvania are complete.

His next court appearance in Butler County is scheduled for May 16, where he will be formally arraigned on the Pennsylvania charges.

JAMESTOWN – Jamestown police have announced that a suspect is now in custody in connection to a string of recent arsons that took place on the city’s north side.

Jonathan Young

Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings and other local officials held a news conference Wednesday afternoon, identifying 19 year-old Jonathan Young of Falconer as the suspect in a series of recent arsons in the area.

Young was arrested in Butler County, Pennsylvania on March 28 after being involved in an alleged arson incident there. Police say an investigation locally also connected him to 12 other arsons in the area, including the major fire in downtown Falconer on March 22, along with a string of arson incidents that took place bewteen March 23 and  March 25 on the Jamestown’s north side.

Chief Snellings said police believe that once a video was released to the public that purportedly showed Young leaving the scene of one of the arsons, he left the area and began moving south in to Pennsylvania.

Young is suspected of being responsible for the following arsons in the city of Jamestown and in Falconer:

• March 2 (12:45 a.m.) – 621 E. 6th St., Jamestown (Occupied Apartment)
• March 2 (11:27 p.m.) – 621 E. 6th St., Jamestown (Vacant Apartment)
• March 6 (8:18 p.m.) – 2840 Woodlawn Ave. Ext., Falconer (Abandoned Home)
• March 12 (12:58 p.m.) – 2840 Woodlawn Ave. Ext, Falconer (Abandoned Garage)
• March 22 (6:30 a.m.) – 441 Winsor St., Jamestown (Condemned House)
• March 22 (7:19 a.m.) – 29 to 39 W. Main St., Falconer ( Occupied Building)
• March 23 (6:14 p.m.) – 621 E. 6th St., Jamestown (Condemned Home)
• March 24 (11:05 p.m.) – 650 E. 6th St., Jamestown (Condemned Home)
• March 25 (12:21 a.m.) – 220 Crossman St., Jamestown (Condemned Home)
• March 25 (1:04 a.m.) – 30 W. 11th St., Jamestown (Debris Pile near Home)
• March 25 (1:16 a.m.) – 22 W. 11th St., Jamestown (Condemned Home)
• March 25 (2:10 a.m.) – 33 W. 10th St., Jamestown (Condemned Home)

No one was injured any of the fires.

(Fire crews work to contain a major fire on W. Main St. in the village of Falconer on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. (Photo courtesy of Andy Palermo, Jamestown, NY)

As a result of the investigation, Young has been charged with two counts of 2nd degree Arson, 9 counts of 3rd degree Arson, and 1 count of 5th degree arson. In addition to those charges, Young has also been charged in Pennsylvania in connection to the fire in Butler County last weekend, and is suspected of being involved in a string of burglaries that took place in Warren Co., Pennsylvania area.

Last week, police released a video that purportedly showed the suspect walking away from one of the arson scenes, shortly before the home caught fire. City police say they’ve also reviewed other evidence that shows the alleged suspect at or near the scene of other fires.

Young is currently being held in Pennsylvania on $75,000 bail. If he makes bail there, he would be extradited to Chautauqua County to be arraigned and formally charged.

Snellings also said that the police are continuing to investigate other arsons in the area, including one that took place on Tuesday morning on Charles St.

Anyone with information on Tuesday morning’s arson, or any of the other arsons from earlier this year, is asked to call JPD’s Anonymous Tip Line at 483-TIPS (8477), or they can leave a tip on the Tips 411 App.

Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings said Monday night following the Jamestown City Council work session that his department has received numerous tips from the public, especially since police released a video that purportedly showed the suspect walking away from one of the arson scenes, shortly before the home caught fire.

“What’s we released it we got additional tips that we’ve been following up on,” Snellings said Monday night. “Today we followed up on a couple more tips and we are going to continue to tell our community members that if  you know something to continue passing that information along.”

Between Thursday night March 23 and early Saturday Morning, March 25, Jamestown Fire Fghters responded to five separate fires involving abandoned homes being set on fire. Also since the start of the year, a total of 11 fires in the city have reportedly been caused by arson. However, Chief Snellings says that doesn’t mean they were all done by the same individual.

A screen shot from the video of a man suspected to be connected to a series of arsons that took place in March 2017 in Jamestown.

We are investigating 11 open arsons, but whether they are all related or not, we do not know,” Snellings said.

One of the fires from March 24 took place at 650 E. Sixth Street and the video from an adjacent property shows a man walking away from that scene. The person appears to be of thin build and is wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

Snellings says anyone who may recognize or know who the suspect is in the video is asked to contact the JPD Tip Line at 483-TIPS, that’s 483-8477.  He says you can also leave a tip on the Tips 411 App.