SMITHFIELD, R.I. (AP) – Two Bryant College students face criminal charges after they allegedly burned a table to stage a picture for a campus newspaper article that referred to the West Warwick nightclub fire.
Bryon Little, of Gorham, Maine, and Stephen Neves of Mendham, N.J., were charged with felony arson. The two 19-year-olds were released Wednesday on $500 bail. A grand jury is examining the charge.
Little, a photographer for the paper, and Neves poured lighter fluid on a dorm table and lit it, police said. They extinguished the fire before it ignited alarms. No one was injured.
The photo appeared in The Archway last month. The caption referenced a story on fire codes changes since The Station nightclub fire that killed 100 people and injured nearly 200.
Smithfield police Capt. Jeff Muto told The Providence Journal the act was no college prank.
“You basically cannot be thinking in your right mind to commit something like this,” Muto said.
AP-ES-05-29-03 0838EDT
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