FIVE OAKS RUNAWAY ACCUSED OF BURNING DOWN NEARBY HOME
A 15-year old runaway from the Five Oaks Achievement Center in Austin County is believed responsible for setting a nearby home on fire.
New Ulm Fire Chief Curtis Harden says firefighters responded to the home on Track Road Thursday morning, to find the home fully engulfed in flames. The property is adjacent to that of Five Oaks. The owners were not home and no one was injured.
Harden says the suspected arsonist in the house fire is a 15-year-old runaway from Five Oaks, who he says had, “...found a chair, took his shoes off and decided to sit back and watch the show.”
The boy was arrested without incident and charged with arson and burglary.
District Attorney Travis Koehn says, since December law enforcement officers have detained 11 runaways from Five Oaks, who have committed numerous acts of criminal mischief and vandalism.
Koehn says Five Oaks has been a concern for a long time, and his office has contacted State Senator Lois Kolkhorst, encouraging her to look at the licensing of Five Oaks to see if there needs to be some modifications or possible revocation of their license.
Neighbors say the problems with runaways from Five Oaks have been ongoing for years.
Five Oaks, which is licensed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, has not commented.
My father use to work out there and I feel it use to be a great facility. I feel that maybe more security needs to happened and maybe retrain their staff on different policies. But I can understand the way the citizens feel because if this young man had the nerves to sit and watch the fire he has no remorse and needs to be put in a different facility. My question to the staff how did this young man get that far and where were the staff. I am know Senator Lois personally and I hope she gets to the bottom of this.