UPDATED: Cumberlands student charged with arson free on bond

Quintine Geynold Cayo

A University of the Cumberlands student, who is facing arson charges after he allegedly set a fire inside a university dormitory last week, has been freed from the Whitley County Detention Center on a $3,000 cash bond.

About 12:50 p.m. on Dec. 14, Williamsburg Police Detective Bobby Freeman charged Quintine Geynold Cayo, 18, of Sparks, Ga., with two counts of second-degree arson and two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.

About 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 13, a fire alarm was activated in Mahan Hall after someone set fire to papers hanging on a door.
No one was injured. The fire was quickly extinguished and no response from the fire department was required.

"Regardless of whether he was trying to burn anything down, it was an occupied dormitory," said Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird. "These particular papers that he set on fire were on residents doors. It could have been a bad situation. It smoked the dorm up pretty good and set the fire alarms off."

The next day university officials called Williamsburg police about the incident.

"After reviewing video surveillance from Mahan Hall, Detective Freeman and University of the Cumberlands staff identified a male subject setting fire to paper material on the door," Bird wrote.

Cayo told police that he did it and no one helped him, but other than that said little to authorities after being read his Miranda warning, Bird said.

Police don’t know why he set fires.

No drug or alcohol involvement is suspected.

Other students are seen walking by Cayo in the video.

"I think one of the guys, who walked by told him, ‘Man, you’re crazy,’" Bird said. "There was enough paper on the door that it caused a pretty big burn."

At the time of the fire, Cayo was a resident in Mahan Hall. He was a freshmen listed as an outside linebacker on the University of the Cumberlands 2011 football roster.

Dr. Mike Colegrove, University of the Cumberlands Vice-President for Student Services, said Thursday afternoon that Cayo is no longer a student, and would not be returning as a student next semester.

Colegrove said the university is thankful that no one was injured.

"Any time you have a situation like that, it is very, very serious," Colegrove said.

Cayo pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment Thursday.

Cayo waived his right to a preliminary hearing Monday afternoon. District Judge Fred White ordered the case bound over to the Whitley County Grand Jury, and told Cayo to report to Whitley Circuit Court on Jan. 9 to see if he has been indicted.

White also agreed to lower Cayo’s bond from $5,000 cash to $3,000 cash and to allow him to be released to the custody of his mother, who attended Monday’s hearing.

Public advocate Jim Wren II said his understanding is there was no significant damage caused by the fire.

Wren noted in open court that when he was in college, he too did some stupid stuff.

"I one time took all my notes from one class into the central courtyard below my dormitory and lit them all on fire," Wren said. "I’d hate to think what I could have been charged with, but fortunately I was charged with nothing, and I don’t have a criminal record. I guess they could have charged me with arson for that."

Wren’s wife is library director at the University of the Cumberlands. Wren said he didn’t feel there was any conflict of interest or impropriety representing Cayo under the circumstances, and Cayo told the judge Monday that he was willing to waive any potential conflict of interest Wren might have because of his wife’s employment.

Williamsburg Police Officers Brandon Prewitt and Jim Pool assisted with the investigation.