SKOWHEGAN — Two brothers from Waterville are accused of torching a car in Madison in June with a homemade Molotov cocktail over a dispute involving marijuana plants.
Alexis Casey, 25, and his brother Zachary Casey, 22, are charged with Class A counts of arson, punishable by up to 30 years in prison if they are convicted. The pair were arrested Tuesday on a warrant based on a court affidavit filed by Jeremy Damren, an investigator with the Office of State Fire Marshal.
The affidavit alleges the brothers wanted to get even with people they believed had stolen marijuana plants from a legal grow operation. They allegedly obtained an empty 40-once Hurricane beer bottle, filled it with gasoline and, after busting a car window with a rock, tossed it inside, burning the car completely.
Investigators found the empty beer bottle that smelled of gasoline, a Bic lighter and a rock that they say broke the window of the car, a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt owned by Sara Cookson.
Madison firefighters extinguished the fire before it could spread to a nearby three-unit apartment house, where all of the occupants were inside sleeping. The car was 5 feet away from the building.
The fire was determined to have been deliberately set, prompting the warrants for the arrest of the two men. The car, a Chevrolet Cobalt, had been parked on Middle Street in Madison, according to the affidavit.
The Casey brothers were scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
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