Scott County Man Arrested Following Arson At Dollar General in Austin

The arrest followed interviews from witnesses

A 19-year-old was charged with arson after police said he admitted to setting a fire inside a southern Indiana business Sunday evening. 

According to a probable cause affidavit, Jalen May admitted to setting a fire inside the Dollar General Market at 250 U.S. 31 in Austin, causing significant fire and smoke damage to the building.

An officer with the Austin Police Department responded to a call that the store was on fire around 7:40 p.m. Sunday, according to court documents. Once on scene, the officer saw smoke coming from a corner of the building and several people outside in the parking lot.

The officer was informed that everyone made it out of the store. He entered and "located large flames in the store at the north end of the building," court documents said. Another officer, deputies from the Scott County Sheriff's Department and firefighters from the Jennings Township Volunteer Fire Department arrived shortly after.

The affidavit states May approached the responding officer and told him he was in the store before the fire started and saw a "short, skinny female standing in the area where the fire started shortly before" it started, and that he saw her running from the store. 

When speaking with a witness, the officer was told he needed to speak to May about what happened. The witness told the officer she saw May in the paper towels/toilet paper isle "acting weird" before the fire started and then saw him leave two isles over. 

The officer wrote in the affidavit that another officer told him he heard May tell a sheriff's deputy "he knew he was going back to jail due to Probation telling him if he had any encounters with police he would."

May was given a witness statement and agreed to fill out. The officer said May asked if he could talk to him in private, where he admitted to starting the fire.

He told police he got into an argument with his girlfriend, and was mad. May admitted to police he started the fire because he "wanted to do something to break his probation," according to the probable cause affidavit. He told police he used a cigarette lighter and set a roll of toilet paper and a roll of paper towels on fire. He then set a dog bed on fire. 

May is being held in the Scott County Jail on a $75,000 bond, charged with arson and criminal mischief. He is due in court Tuesday morning.