LEWISTON – Another 12-year-old Lewiston boy has been arrested for arson in connection with the latest apartment building fires.
Lewiston police are not releasing the name of the boy, who faces four counts of arson. They said other children may be charged in coming days in connection with the latest fire, which heavily damaged three apartment buildings, a condemned house and a garage late Friday night.
Firefighters battled the blazes on Bartlett and Pierce streets into the early morning Saturday. Fire officials said 29 apartments were heavily damaged and more than 100 people displaced by the fire.
On Monday, another arson fire destroyed three apartments just a few blocks away from the scene of the Friday night fire. Police arrested a 12-year-old boy on Thursday and he was identified in court papers as Brody Covey. Covey faces three counts of arson and is being held in a juvenile detention facility and will make an initial appearance in court early next week.
Police said the boy arrested in the latest fires was also in custody, but no court date was set. They said the arrest followed interviews with residents of the buildings damaged in the fire.
In a Saturday afternoon news conference, Lewiston Police Chief Michael Bussiere said police will step up patrols and take other measures to prevent another fire.
He also urged parents to make sure their children obey the city’s curfew for juveniles, which is 10 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends.
Fire investigators confirmed that the fire Friday started in a garage that was on the lot of the condemned home. But they declined to say specifically how the fire was started.
Bussiere said the fire Friday was not connected to the one on Monday and said police did not consider it a copycat crime, but he would not elaborate on that statement.
Lewiston Fire Chief Paul LeClair said damage from Friday’s fire ran to hundreds of thousands of dollars, but no more specific figure has been determined yet.
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