ALFRED — A Springvale woman, whom police allege deliberately set an apartment fire earlier this year, entered a plea of innocent Friday to an arson charge.
Police and fire officials said the early morning fire at 20 Mill St. in Springvale on Jan. 5 sent 14 people fleeing into the street with just the clothes on their back.
Janice Fortier, 46, entered the not guilty plea Friday before Justice William Brodrick at York County Superior Court.
Her son, Raymond R. Fortier, 23, was also charged with arson and had been scheduled to enter a plea, but his hearing was postponed until Thursday.
Janice Fortier was indicted by a York County grand jury in June alleging she started the apartment fire, and on a second charge of starting a fire that damaged the Mill Street Market, almost directly across the street from the apartment building, back in August.
The 20 Mill St. fire in January displaced 14 residents and forced the evacuation of another apartment building nearby.
Raymond R. Fortier was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Panama City, Fla. on March 5 and was extradited to Maine. Janice Fortier was arrested at her home March 10.
Both mother and son lived at 22 Mill St., directly adjacent to the apartment building that burned. Police allege that Raymond Fortier left for Florida within days of the fire.
Court documents allege that the pair started the fire outside at the rear of the structure while the tenants slept inside.
Arson is a Class A felony. The maximum penalty upon conviction is 30 years in prison.
Janice Fortier remains free on $5,000 bail with the condition she refrain from use of alcohol and submit to testing and searches and that she have no contact with Raymond R. Fortier. She is also required to maintain a curfew of 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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