LEWISTON — A local boy was arrested Thursday night, charged with setting the fire that burned down the Cowan Mill in July.
Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal
The Cowan Mill burning, taken around 4 p.m.
Investigators from the State Fire Marshal's Office and Lewiston police arrested the 13-year-old boy after interviewing several potential witnesses in recent days.
"We've been working on it heavily all week," said Lewiston police Chief Michael Bussiere. "A lot of legwork went into the investigation."
The boy was not identified Thursday night but it was believed police were led to the suspect after he talked about the fire with classmates.
The State Fire Marshal's Office said the boy is from Lewiston and that he was charged with arson.
The July 15 blaze leveled the historic mill near the Lewiston side of the Longeley Bridge and caused chaos throughout the city. Several main roads were closed in the downtown area and falling sparks ignited smaller fires in the area.
Almost immediately, police began looking for a group of teenage suspects said to have information about the fast moving fire.
At the time, a team of investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives came to Lewiston to help with the probe. Fire officials said in July that the intensity of the fire made collecting evidence from within the burned remains of the mill difficult.
Police said they were led to several possible witnesses in the nearly three months since the fire. This week, evidence continued to surface and those potential witnesses were interviewed, according to Bussiere. The suspect was questioned at the Lewiston police station before he was arrested and taken to Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.
Details about how the fire was started were not released.
Sgt. Joel Davis, of the Fire Marshal's Office, said it's possible others will be charged in connection with the fire.The investigation is ongoing, he said and findings will be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office.
Read the Sun Journal's coverage of the Cowan Mill fire at http://www.sunjournal.com/cowanmill
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I will agree with B.... We
I will agree with B....
We know nothing at all about this kid....or his parents.
SOO seacat7up do you have kids? For some reason I think i know the answer to that --- NO! And do you think that the parents knew? Probably not!!!
triumph says
Somehow I suspect this kid is more victim of a home that rejected him for one reason or another. A family of love is far less likely to raise a kid who so desperately, obviously needs attention.
Why do you think there is no love in the family....? I don't care how much love is in a family My parents loved me i did stupid things as a teenager....it wasn't because my parents were bad it was because i was hanging out with other kids (who my parents told me not to). granted we didn't set anything on fire but having to have state police bring us home from 4 states away....that's still pretty bad. but it wasn't because my parents were bad and didn't love me..
I have 2 kids and would like to think that i know were they are and what they are doing 24/7 but everybody knows it doesn't work that way... i have to work (more than one job) and they go to school 5 days a week. No one needs to know the identity of the kid.... It was a crime but who knows if he said hey i think i will set the mill on fire today or if maybe he left a candle burning...was smoking and didn't put out a cigarette....no one really knows why do have to badger him/her they are 13 and it is in the hands of the law now and that should be relieving that we will know what happened soon. and that law enforcement will take care of it from here.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.1. Lewiston came within a
1. Lewiston came within a few minutes of a major catastrophe. Thank God for a great stop by the AFD on the roof of Mill 5.
2. I think this story is going to get very interesting from here. Let's watch it develop.
All the best,
Bob
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I could not give a rats about this kids name.. But do think he should be severely punished for his actions in this fire.. He put hundreds of lives at risk and caused problems all over the place becuase he acted like a complete moron
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How are people supposed to protect themselves and their property when the identities of these people are kept secret. We publish the names of sex offenders so we can protect ourselves, our children and grand children. An arsonist can kill and mame a lot of people, destroy businesses that have taken generations to build with the flick of a match. Honest law abiding citizens have a right to know who these people are so they can be on the lookout and protect themselves from these very dangerous criminals.
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Why do people care so much what his name is? There is something wrong with you folk. You really need to get a life.
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I agree !!!
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I agree... regardless of his age, his name should be in print! He did the crime and he should likewise, do the time... as well as any/all "partners in crime". I doubt he worked alone in that whole ordeal, so eventually his partners will surface as well. If he/they are doing this type of crap at the age of 13, then who is to say they aren't capable of ALOT worse?? He/they should be tried as adults and made 100% liable for their actions, and not just a simple slap on the wrist that will allow them to walk "scott free" at the age of 18!
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Funny Lewiston PD takes all
Funny Lewiston PD takes all the credit… Just wondering who provided the information which lead to the arrest of the suspects… Was it another agency???
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I strongly feel, that any
I strongly feel, that any kid whom does a crime such as this, or any other crime needs to be named. Protecting this kid is really not protecting him, it is actually hurting him. If they are old enough to do the crime, they certainly are old enough to have their name in print and let the public know what they were up to or have done. It's too bad every state is like this. The law needs to stop protecting these damn kids, especially the 16-18 year olds.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Not all of us burned down
Not all of us burned down gargantuan brick factory buildings when we were teenagers. I think people carry the "kids aren't responsible for their actions" thing way too far. Sure, we all do things we probably shouldn't have, but arson is not something that can reasonably be considered a harmless childish prank. If you don't want every kid in the community to think it's a harmless recreational sport, you can't let arsonists walk away with a slap on the wrist.
And by the way, not everyone "plays" with fire when they're kids. A lot of us actually learn how to properly light a woodstove and build a campfire, but not how to burn down vacant buildings. If somebody's experimenting with that, then they're definitely hanging with the wrong crowd.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.DR: yes, I am sure that you
DR: yes, I am sure that you and everyone else who have tried and convicted this kid (without any evidence at all), were perfect children that never made a mistake in your childhood.
We know nothing about this kid, or any of the circumstances about how the fire got started.
NOTHING AT ALL!
"the boy is from Lewiston and that he was charged with arson" That is all we know about what happened.
And many of you already "know" that the kid has horrible parents, that the kid meant to burn down this empty mill, and are acting like he killed people. Burning down a nostalgic empty mill is horrible, but some of you are acting like this was a premeditated, evil act planned and committed by a horribly evil 13 year old!
You people have heard all of the evidence, tried, convicted and want to hang this kid out to dry as a waste of humanity. All without knowing a damn thing about what happened.
No one is saying let the kid walk away with a slap on the wrist, let the judicial system take its' course. And there are very good reasons why there are laws refusing to name "suspected" juveniles and those laws have been around for longer than most of us. I won't even get into the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
Why do you people need the kid's name? So you can harass the kid and the his family? ("Oh he's a 'Smith-Jones' I always knew they were a bad bunch"). Let's just find out his name, learn where he lives and go drag him out of his home and teach him and his family how to behave like human beings! If your hate ramblings against this kid wasn't a sad comment on society, they would be laughable.
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B is right on but it looks like a lack of parenting too
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Isn't it a shame that he
Isn't it a shame that he will not be held accountable for this. This is just the first downfall in his life. He will progress to the point where someday he will kill someone. Yes, all teenagers do stupid things but most of them do not cause such destruction. It's time to get out the paddle and give him a few good whops on his backside. These kids are coddled too much. He will not change. You can give him all the counseling you want to but he will still turn out to be a criminal.
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That's a bit of a stretch. Can you tell me the lottery numbers for Saturday oh great Sperkle?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.So none of you ever went in
So none of you ever went in to an abandoned building when you were a kid?
None of you ever played with fire when you were a kid?
None of you ever had lack of judgement or foresight when you were 13 years old?
There have been studies that show that tweens and teens do not have the normal "adult" ability to think about consequences, it's pretty much immediate gratification with absence of forethought. Their minds and thought patterns are a lot different than you supposed "adults" who are calling to string this kid up. Not to mention they are just learning how to handle the hormones of puberty. So give the kid a break, he/she is just a kid.
Yes, if it can be proven that there was a plan to go in and burn the mill down, there should be serious consequences and counseling.
If it turns out to be just general juvenile stupidity, we all have been guilty of that and there should be consequences as well. But the kid does not need to be tarred, feathered and rode out of town on a rail...
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Breathe Richy. Breathe.
Breathe Richy. Breathe. You really lose all credibility with that kind of post and show your true colors.
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Never mind charging the kid Charge his parents for not watching him or knowing where he is. If it were my kid I would have turned him/her in. you have to set examples as parents. If he/she is doing these things imagine what he/she might do next. Stop it now and maybe being thrown in jail as an adult , will scare the crap out of him/her. juvenile det will just make it worse because he/she will still be around people his/her own age. Put him/her in with the big timers and see how he/she likes that.
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We all know whats going to happen here. It will be two years before it gets to court, then there will be delays in getting the case tried so that by the time he / she is sentenced the kid will be 17 3/4 then he / she will be forgiven at the age of 18.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Yeah, to hell with that
Yeah, to hell with that silly "law" crap. Its vigilante time! If he gets charged as an adult he will be named, but not until then. If what you meant to say is "Charge him as an adult", then yes, I agree.
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Somehow I suspect this kid is more victim of a home that rejected him for one reason or another. A family of love is far less likely to raise a kid who so desparately, obviously needs attention.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Hey, let us know his name.
Hey, let us know his name. If a kid does a foolish prank, yeah protect his idenity, but something this serious he needs to be named. If he can do the crime.......
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