A 36-year-old man was charged this week with attempting to burn down a San Bernardino County church preschool and a shopping center on the same day.
Jonathan Barajas Nava, of Albuquerque, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in the Central District of California for the crime, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. He was charged with two counts of attempted destruction of property by fire.
The series of events began shortly after 1:30 p.m. on April 24 in the town of Yucaipa, prosecutors said.
Multiple 911 calls said a man walked up to the entrance of Yucaipa Christian Retreat Church and Preschool with a can of gasoline, doused the entrance with a liquid then had set the fire, authorities said.
There were 48 children and 14 staff members inside the building at the time, but no one was injured, according to the indictment.
A neighbor who saw the suspect start the fire ran to the entrance of the church, removed the gasoline can and a burning doormat and tried to put out the flames until firefighters arrived. according to court documents.
Neighbors reported the suspect was driving a pickup truck with a loud muffler and was wearing a hooded sweatshirt when he started the fire, documents state.
Shortly before 5 p.m. that same day, a 911 caller reported seeing a fire at a shopping center about a mile from the church. The mall includes 11 retail suites, including an optometry center, a cosmetics retail store, a hair salon and a physical therapy office, according to court documents.
The fire broke out along a wall of the optometry center, near a row of gas meters. San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies, who arrived on scene after the fire was extinguished, noticed a strong odor of gasoline in the air as well as burn marks on the sidewalk and wall, said authorities.
Deputies also discovered that black gas could be gushing near the gas meters, according to court documents.
Investigators determined that the fire at the church and the shopping center were both started with a flammable liquid, such as gasoline, and then with a lighter, authorities said.
Shortly before 6 p.m., a 911 caller reported that a driver of a pickup truck was stuck on top of a chain-link fence and revving its engine. The driver got out of the truck and jumped the fence, but got back into the truck when a sheriff’s deputy arrived on scene a few minutes later, according to court records.
The deputy told the driver to get out of the truck, but he did not appear to hear the order, authorities said. As the deputy approached the vehicle, the truck suddenly caught fire and the deputy heard the driver screaming. The motorist was later identified as Barajas Nava.
The deputy opened the truck door and Nava fell to the ground.
One of his legs was on fire, according to court documents, and he rolled around on the ground to put out the fire. The deputy handcuffed Barajas Nava, who appeared disoriented and unable to answer questions asked of him.
At that point, the entire truck was engulfed in flames. The deputy pulled Nava away from the fire and called firefighters to the scene, authorities said. The deputy also removed some items from the truck, including a black beanie.
Nava was treated at the scene.
Investigators learned Nava was on probation following a July 2022 incident in which he pleaded guilty to burning down a church in Albuquerque, according to court documents.
Officers found Nava’s driver’s license near the scene of the New Mexico church fire and located him about an hour after the fire was first reported, authorities said. Police found him about a mile from the church, standing in front of a vehicle matching the description of a vehicle spotted near the crime scene.
When officers found Nava, he was trying to set fire to a gas pump and walked away as police approached him, authorities said. He led police on a high-speed chase and attempted to ram several police vehicles, authorities said.
He eventually crashed, ran away, grabbed an officer’s gun and punched another officer while being placed under arrest, according to court documents.
Nava was in violation of his five-year probation sentence at the time of his arrest in San Bernardino County on April 24, authorities said.
Nava is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday in Riverside in connection with the Yucaipa incidents.
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