A day after fires at Redlands High School left a classroom and school bus destroyed, the city announced Thursday that detectives had arrested a 21-year-old Mentone man in connection with the arson and two burglaries.
Robert Aaron Trujillo was linked by forensic evidence to the burglary of a church, fires at a school district bus yard and the burglary and arson of a Redlands High classroom, according to police.
Trujillo was arrested about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at a home where he was staying in Mentone.
Earlier Wednesday, when police were investigating a burglary and vandalism at the Church of the Nazarene, at 1307 E. Citrus Ave., they found stolen property from the school at the church, along with other evidence that led them to Trujillo.
Trujillo had some of the stolen property from the church in his possession when he was arrested, according to police. Detectives found the rest of the church’s stolen property at another location in Mentone.
Investigators believe Trujillo walked from the church back to Mentone — a distance of about 6 miles to the home where he was arrested — while pushing a wheelchair. Anyone who may have seen him during this trip was asked to call police.
Investigators also found a brown box containing four packages of cheese that they believed was stolen by Trujillo from an unknown location.
The string of crimes began before 4 a.m. Wednesday, when firefighters were called to a blaze at the Redlands Unified School District’s transportation yard. There, a school bus and utility trailer were engulfed in flames and destroyed. Another bus and trailer were damaged.
During that firefighter, a call came in about a classroom on fire a half-block away at the high school. The modular classroom was destroyed.
Police said there was evidence the arsonist tried to get into several other classrooms as well.
Trujillo attended Redlands schools, graduating in 2011, but did not attend Redlands High, according to police. No booking photo of him was released.
