Blaze Causes $250K in Damage to Illinois Store; 12-Year-Old Charged

Authorities say a 12-year-old Kankakee, Ill., boy is charged with arson in a fire at a Family Dollar store earlier this month.

The (Kankakee) Daily-Journal reports that the boy was charged after investigators saw surveillance video showing him use a lighter to set fire to paper products inside the store. The blaze caused more than $250,000 in damages at the now boarded-up store on July 11.

Fire officials say much of the store’s inventory burned but the building itself is structurally sound.

Kankakee County Circuit Judge Mike Kick declined to release the boy to his family. He was sent to River Valley Juvenile Detention Center.