Man charged with arson released

LYNN – A judge released a city man arrested Sunday after witnesses reported seeing him light a brush fire in High Rock Park.”It’s not clear at this time exactly why this fire was set,” Essex Assistant District Attorney Jacquelyn Kaplan said Tuesday in Lynn District Court. “But it was in a park where there were witnesses, and the fire was large enough to require four vehicles of emergency response, and the suspect was fleeing the scene.”Jose Menjivar, 25, of 62 Lawton Ave. #3, was arrested and charged with burning woods; and malicious and wanton defacement of property; at 9:55 a.m. Sunday.A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf at his arraignment Tuesday in Lynn District Court.Police responded to High Rock Park at the corner of Essex and Liberty streets at 10:06 a.m. Sunday on a report of a fire that was intentionally set, according to a report by Lynn Police Officer Michael McEachern.A witness told police she saw a Hispanic man in a blue jacket light the fire and she confronted him but he ran away, according to police.Kaplan said an arson investigator with the Lynn Fire Department reported the fire burned a 30-by-60-foot area of grass and brush. Kaplan requested Menjivar be held on $5,000 cash bail, citing previous charges in violent incidents as well as the potential for the fire to have caused significant damage.But court-appointed defense attorney William O’Shea said the incident was simply an accident.He noted that investigators found no evidence of accelerants used to enhance the fire.”Somebody was playing with matches and it results in a small brush fire that gets out of hand,” O’Shea said.Judge Antoinette Leoney noted all previous charges against Menjivar had been dismissed, and she ordered him released on personal recognizance. Menjivar is scheduled to return to court June 9.