County files charges against arson suspect
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 11/18/2009
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Tippecanoe county filed four charges Tuesday against a Purdue student who allegedly started two fires on Oct. 19 in Elliott Hall of Music.
The student, Isaiah Peedin, 22, was a member of Purdue’s student security patrol and initially reported the fires, according to the Tippecanoe County prosecutor’s office’s affidavit of probable cause.
Click here for a PDF of the affidavit and here for a PDF the counts filed against Peedin.
The charges were two counts of arson, one a Class B felony and one a Class D felony; perjury, a Class D felony; and false informing, a Class A misdemeanor.
According to the affidavit, both fires were in the basement Elliott, one damaging a bulletin board in a hallway and another damaging the walls in a corner of the band locker room. Nine hundred students taking a math exam had to be evacuated from the building. Both fires were extinguished quickly by firefighters, who said there was no evidence the fires were accidental.
Police interviewed Peedin after he was treated at a local hospital for smoke inhalation. He described a suspect to police and a composite sketch was released. According to the affidavit, while he was showing police where he said he saw the described suspect, “Peedin was becoming increasingly nervous.”
After talking with police, Peedin eventually “admitted that he had set both fires,” according to the affidavit.
According to Purdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg, all damages resulting from the fires were repaired within a week. She said smoke detectors were installed soon after.
“That was the initial effort,” she said. “The smoke detectors were installed that week.”
Norberg said, “There was a Persona Non Grata issued on Oct. 23,” against Peedin applicable to all of campus, meaning he is not allowed anywhere on Purdue grounds. She said the University does not have any further statement.
“This is really in the hands of the prosecutor now,” she said.