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North Penn High School Junior Admits To Two Felony Charges With Lighting Fire At School

MONTGOMERY COUNTY (CBS) --  A junior at North Penn High School, charged with lighting a fire in North Penn High School that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages last week, admitted to his role in the blaze in juvenile court on Friday.

The 17-year-old North Penn Student admitted to two charges: felony 1st degree arson, and felony second degree risking a catastrophe. He admitted to lighting a stack of napkins in a band storage room in the high school on fire, on May 24th. But his attorney, Richard Simon says the teen is very sorry for what happened, and he never expected the fire to cause so much damage.

"He set a few papers on fire and thought it was burned out and he left thinking it was all over," attorney Richard Simon said.

He told police he was going through a difficult time dealing with family issues, and a concussion which kept him from participating with the band. He told police lighting fires made him feel good.

Prosecutors say this fire caused about 800-thousand dollars in damage. Roughly 500-thousand in structural damages to the high school, and 300-thousand to band instruments, some of those school owned, others belonging to students.

Sentencing, or disposition as it's called in juvenile court, will follow psychiatric and psychological evaluation. Prosecutors say they will ask for placement in a juvenile facility for both the community's safety and for treatment of the offender.

Two people were hurt in the aftermath of the fire, a light fixture fell on a teacher's head causing a small cut, and a fire fighter had to be treated for heat exhaustion.

The teen was remanded to the county youth center.

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