PORTLAND – A second Fryeburg man is charged with setting fire to the Fryeburg Academy gymnasium last October and is scheduled to appear in federal court in Portland today.
Maxx Noble, 18, was arrested near Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 12 on an indictment charging him with arson and conspiracy, according to a statement issued Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland. Noble appeared before a federal magistrate in Florida the day after his arrest and was ordered to return to Maine by today.
Fryeburg Academy Headmaster Dan Lee said Thursday that Noble had attended the school “on and off for about 15 weeks beginning in September 2002.” Noble did not graduate from the school.
Meanwhile, the first person arrested in the case, Philip Thibault, 20, of Fryeburg, pleaded guilty to arson Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland, according to the statement.
Thibault is a 2003 graduate of Fryeburg Academy. He remains in federal custody in Portland pending sentencing. Thibault was arrested last December in Flint, Mich., and charged with arson.
The fire in the early morning hours of Oct. 11 destroyed the 50-year-old Harvey Dow Gibson Recreation Center at the school and nearly all athletic uniforms and equipment.
Contacted by phone Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard W. Murphy declined to comment on any relationship between Thibault and Noble or how prosecutors have linked the two men to the fire.
“I can’t comment substantively on the case,” said Murphy. “All I can say is (Noble) will be appearing in court sometime tomorrow. I assume he will be arraigned; the court has not set the exact nature of the hearing.”
The investigation is being conducted by the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Portland office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lee said he had no idea why Noble or Thibault would want to harm the school. “We lost our gym and we’re working very hard to rebuild it,” he said. “That is where my focus is.”
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