PARIS — A 64-year-old woman from Albany Township pleaded no contest to burning down several buildings belonging to a man who had once lived with her.
Joann Farris pleaded no contest to one count of arson Wednesday in Oxford County Superior Court for her role in the Aug. 21 fire. Her sentencing is pending a discussion with George Sprague, the victim.
Sprague lost two seasonal cabins, a wood shop and two storage buildings in the fire, according to Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor. The property was not insured.
O’Connor said Farris and her daughter, Lisa Thurston of Gilead, conspired to set the fire. Both were charged with arson and both entered not guilty pleas in May.
The assistant district attorney said that on Aug. 21, Thurston called in a forest fire at Sprague’s property in Albany Township. Dan Young, an investigator for the State Fire Marshal’s Office, interviewed Thurston after the fire was extinguished and became suspicious of some of the details she gave, O’Connor said.
Young learned that Thurston’s mother, Joann Farris, and Sprague had lived at Farris’ house at 1 Woodsman Loop, but issues between them caused him to move out, O’Connor said.
In June 2010, Sprague was hurt in an accident and Farris offered to let Sprague move in with her, but he declined, the prosecutor said.
Young asked Thurston to take a polygraph test, O’Connor said, and after the test, she admitted to starting the fire.
Thurston said Farris drove her to the store to get kerosene, which Farris paid for, then took her to Sprague’s property, which was on the same road as Farris’ home, he said.
O’Connor said Farris dropped her daughter off on Sprague’s land. He said Thurston used kerosene and newspapers to set the buildings on fire. Farris then drove Thurston from the scene.
Farris later admitted to her role, O’Connor said.
O’Connor said Thurston reported the forest fire because her deceased father had been a forest ranger and she was concerned the fire would spread to the woods.
He said firefighters extinguished the flames before they could spread beyond Sprague’s property.
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