Frat arson inmate locked down

Issac DePaolo, the Cheney resident who was sentenced to a year in jail July 12 after he pleaded guilty to charges of second degree arson and reckless burning of the Theta Chi fraternity on College Hill in Pullman, was the subject of a lengthy report on violations of work release which he was allowed while serving his sentence.

After the hearing, DePaolo was ordered to be locked down in jail for 80 days, two months of good time credit was rescinded from the one-year sentence.

A 35-page report on the work release violations was submitted as part of the hearing and the decision orders were filed with the court Jan. 6.

The report notes another inmate in the jail's work release section reported DePaolo was spending time at home and playing video games when he was supposed to be on work release.

The report noted GPS readings on the inmate's whereabouts on release indicated he had been driving at high speeds when commuting to work on Highway 195 from jail here. Speeds of up to 90 mph were logged on the highway.

The report said the GPS indicated DePaolo made lengthy stops at his home while on work release.

The GPS tracking indicated among other stops the inmate visited a Christian academy, Spokane District Court, a wrecking yard and the Spokane Arena while he was on work release.

DePaolo had originally be charged with first degree arson for the Sept. 16, 2018, fire at the fraternity.

According to the report by Pullman Detective Chris Engle, DePaolo was arrested at his residence in Cheney after surveillance cameras showed him at the scene of the fire. Photos at the scene were matched up with driver's license photos.

The arrest report said a large deck on the west side of the fraternity was destroyed by the fire. A Pullman Fire Department detector located two areas in the deck remains which showed combustibles had been used at the scene.

The report noted fire crews responded to the fire at 5:15 a.m. that morning and approximately 12 males had exited the fraternity.

Police and fire crews had responded approximately an hour earlier to a fire behind the Tau Kappa Epsilon house.

Engle's report said he found two other locations at the Theta house where attempts had been made to start a fire.

Engle's report said after DePaolo was arrested he said he couldn't recall any motive for setting fire to the fraternity deck, but he believes he might have been upset because he had been kicked out of the house earlier in the night. He said he was intoxicated at the time.

The one-year sentence assigned July 12 was at the top of the sentencing range for a conviction on second-degree arson. DePaolo had initially pleaded not guilty to the initial charge of first degree arson, and at one time he had been scheduled for a jury trial.

DePaolo's jail release date, with credit for good time, had been March 7. With the loss of two months good time credit for work release violations, the release date is now set for May 24.