Two Waterville Men Charged With Arson

The State Fire Marshal’s Office said two brothers from Waterville were arrested yesterday and charged with arson for setting a car on fire in Madison four months ago.

According to Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Steve McCausland, Zachary Casey, 22 and his brother Alexis Casey, 25, were taken into custody at their Hathaway Street apartment late Tuesday afternoon. Both were taken to the Somerset County jail.

According to McCausland, Fire Investigator Jeremy Damren said the two set fire to a car, parked beside an apartment house on Middle Street in Madison in the early morning hours of June 9. The 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt, owned by Sara Cookson, was destroyed, McCausland said. Madison firefighters stopped the fire from spreading to the three-unit apartment house, where all of the occupants were asleep inside. Damren said the brothers broke out a window to the car and threw a Molotov cocktail inside. The car was parked in the driveway – five feet away from the building.

Fire Marshals, along with Somerset Sheriff’s Deputies, investigated the fire. Damren said there was a grudge between the brothers and the boyfriend of Cookson that lead them to set fire to her car, according to McCausland.