BOSTON (AP) – The two teenagers sneaked into small Maine boatyard to steal a marine radio. But when they spied the surveillance cameras capturing their little bit of mischief, they set the place on fire.

What they didn’t know was that former President George Bush stored a spare engine for his speedboat at the boatyard, where the fire caused more than $700,000 in damages, and destroyed several buildings, boats and engines.

Now, the youngest of the two – a 15-year-old identified in court papers only as Patrick V. – is serving a 30 month sentence in federal prison, and his parents are crying foul, saying he’s being treated unfairly because of the crime’s connection to the former president.

His stepfather, Robert Mongue, an attorney, argued before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston that the sentence was overly harsh. Outside of the court, he said the reason can only be because the engine’s owner is the former president.

“There’s really no other reasonable explanation as to why” the boy’s case was handled in federal court instead of a state juvenile court in Maine, Mongue said.

Patrick’s friend, Christopher Conley, 19, pleaded guilty to federal arson charges and was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison. Patrick was tried and convicted in federal court, and was sentenced to 30 months, also in federal prison.

Patrick’s mother, Denise Collier, said Secret Service agents came to her home several days after the fire and told her “they considered this a terrorist act.”

“What they told me is that Patrick had blown up the president’s boat,” she said Thursday.

Her son had been an exemplary student with lots of friends and an interest in computers, he said. These days, her son is only allowed to talk with them for 5 minutes a week by phone. They’re are allowed to visit him one hour a week at the prison in Pennsylvania, but can’t go that often.

once a month because it’s 570 miles from their home in Kennebunk.

His prison cell is 10-feet by 8-feet, and water leaks from the ceiling onto the floor, Collier said.

“It is violent. It is terrifying,” she said.

In the 45-minute hearing, Mongue said the Federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act makes rehabilitation the goal of sentencing. He said the boy is in a maximum-security federal juvenile facility in Pennsylvania, where he is not receiving any rehabilitative or psychological services.

“There is no evidence before this court that detention will serve the rehabilitation needs of this child,” he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Terison argued that the 30-month sentence was “eminently reasonable,” falling in the middle of the 57 months recommended by federal prosecutors and the probation recommended by the boy’s attorney. The boy must also complete 27 months of supervised release after he completes his prison term.

Terison said the judge who sentenced the boy knew that he had been charged in five other burglaries around the same time of the boatyard fire. He also cited the seriousness of the crime.

“This was an arson crime, which is considered a crime of violence because of what can happen,” Terison said.

Paula Silsby, the U.S. Attorney for Maine, did not immediately return a telephone call left at her office.

In an interview with The New York Times last month, Silsby strongly denied that the decision to prosecute the case in federal court had anything to do with the Bush family.

“Absolutely not,” Silsby said. She said federal officials prosecuted the case because of the arson charge and because the boatyard was engaged in interstate commerce.

Dan Dunne, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons, said he was bound by confidentiality laws from answering specific questions about Patrick’s case.

But Dunne said mental health counseling and educational services are available to inmates housed at the juvenile facility where Patrick is housed.

“Any inmate designated to that location has the opportunity to participate in a wide range of educational programs,” Dunne said.

“There are opportunities to obtain mental health treatment if they feel there’s a need for it.”

Tom Mazur, a spokesman for the Secret Service, declined to comment and referred calls to Silsby’s office.

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Editor’s Note: Denise Lavoie is a Boston-based reporter covering the courts and legal issues.

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