RICHMOND, Texas -- A teenager accused of setting his high school on fire turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday and will be charged, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Christopher Maresh, a 16-year-old sophomore and football player at Needville High School, is responsible for a three-alarm fire that consumed part of the school on April 23, investigators said.

Maresh faces an engaging in a delinquent conduct arson charge, a felony.

"Just the gravity of the landmark that has been lost for the city of Needville and what these people have suffered here. Their history has just absolutely been destroyed," said Mike Elliott, an assistant district attorney for Fort Bend County.

The fire destroyed the school's administrative area where completed TAKS tests were stored. Students are retaking the tests this week.

Maresh admitted his involvement in the fire during talks with investigators with the Texas Rangers and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Monday, officials said.

He was transferred to the Fort Bend County Juvenile Detention Center Tuesday afternoon, where a psychiatrist will evaluate him for 20 days.

"So we can find out what is going on in his mind -- the wheres, the whys, the what ifs. And as I stated yesterday, we have had some real medical issues," defense attorney Rocket Rosen said.

Relatives said the teenager has a history of mental health problems and has sought help in the past.

Rosen said Tuesday was a rough day for his client.

"This is the worst I've seen in three weeks because now his freedom is taken. His friends are taken away. His mother's taken away. His father's taken away," Rosen said.

Rosen said he fears prosecutors will try to charge Maresh as an adult, but Rosen said Maresh has a child's mind and not an adult's.

"He's fighting being a 16-year-old boy who obviously made the wrong decision at the wrong time in his life," Rosen said. "My final words to him were, 'Keep your head up.'"

Prosecutors have not said if Maresh will be charged as a juvenile or as an adult.

One firefighter suffered minor injuries battling the school blaze. Officials said that would play a role in the trial.