Teens deny guilt in arson case
Toolbox
By Josh O'Gorman STAFF REPORT - Published: October 9, 2009
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Four teenagers denied charges Tuesday that their alcohol- and drug-fueled party caused them to burn down a house they had no permission to be at in the first place.
Dylan S. Stinson, Austin Lawson and Nathan R. Gritman, all 17, of Ludlow, and Nicholas T. Sweet, 17, of Pittsford, all pleaded innocent in White River Junction District Court to a felony charge of first-degree arson, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
All four teens are free without posting bail.
According to affidavits filed with the court, around 4 a.m. May 27, Ludlow firefighters responded to a house fire at 7 Lacava Lane When they arrived, the house was fully engulfed and investigators considered it a total loss, records state.
An officer with the State Police Fire Investigation Unit responded to the scene, determined the fire had begun on an exterior deck and collected several beer cans and bottles as evidence, records state. Police then spoke with the homeowners, who owned the house for nine years and used it as a vacation home, according to affidavits.
The homeowners told police the house was not occupied at the time, nobody had permission to be there and there shouldn't have been beer bottles and cans on the deck, affidavits state.
The evening of May 27, police said, a teen contacted Ludlow Police and said Stinson told him that Stinson, Gritman and Sweet were at the house that had burned down the night before. Police first interviewed Gritman, who admitted being at the house the night before with friends, records said.
Gritman told police he and friends had started a fire in the chiminea, a small portable fireplace that was sitting on the outside deck, affidavits state. Police later interviewed Sweet, who said they had gone to the house to smoke pot and made a fire in the chiminea using twigs, leaves, bark and wood from beneath the deck, records state.
Stinson told police he was at the house, but had left before anyone started the fire.
Both Gritman and Sweet told police that people had poured beer on the fire before they left, records state.
Police spoke with Lawson, who said he would return to the Ludlow Police Department with his parents to be interviewed, but he never did, according to affidavits.
Police spoke with a fifth teen, Elizabeth Plude, 17, of Ludlow, who said the Lacava Lane residence was referred to as the "smoking house" because it was a place where teens went to smoke marijuana.
Plude told police she was at the house, but when she left it was still standing.
"Plude said she did not know the people who owned the house and they did not have permission to be there," affidavits state.
Plude is also charged with first-degree arson, but she has not been arraigned and does not have an arraignment date, said Windsor County State's Attorney Robert Sand.
josh.ogorman@rutland.herald.com
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