TWENTY YEAR-OLD ARRESTED FOR ARSON IN GENESEO

 

Sheriff Thomas J. Dougherty reports the arrest of a Geneseo resident on felony charges after an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office.

On July 14, 2020 at approximately 10:40 am, Sheriff’s Deputies along with the Geneseo Fire Department responded to a vacant house on Big Tree Lane for witness reports that a person had just tried to set the house on fire.

Witnesses were able to provide a detailed description of the suspect who had fled the scene and one witness was able to quickly extinguish the fire.

Sheriff’s Deputies, along with members of the Geneseo Police Department and the SUNY Geneseo University Police, located the suspect near the athletic fields on the SUNY Campus.

The suspect refused to stop as directed to by law enforcement and began running. After a foot pursuit, the suspect was taken into custody without incident or injury to anybody involved.

The suspect was identified as 20 year old John B. Duncanson and has been arrested and charged with felony Arson in the 3rd Degree and Obstructing Governmental Administration in the 2nd Degree.

Duncanson was turned over to Central Booking Deputies at the Livingston County Jail for processing and pre-arraignment detention. The offenses did qualify for pre-arraignment detention under the NYS Justice Reform Act, however, the law prevents a Judge from setting bail.

Duncanson was later arraigned at the Livingston County Centralized Arraignment Part (LC- CAP) at the Livingston County Jail before Town of Mount Morris Justice David Provo. The

Judge did release Duncanson on his own recognizance per the law and Deputies did set him free.