SKOWHEGAN — Two brothers from Waterville have been indicted by a Somerset County grand jury on one count each of felony arson for allegedly torching a car with a Molotov cocktail June 9 in Madison in apparent retaliation over a marijuana dispute.
Alexis Casey, 25, and Zachary Casey, 22, both of Hathaway Street, are charged with Class A felony counts of arson, punishable by up to 30 years in prison if they are convicted.
The brothers were arrested Oct. 11 on a warrant based on a court affidavit filed by the Office of the State Fire Marshal. They were released on $1,000 cash bail from the Somerset County Jail in East Madison the following day, according to a jail intake worker.
The court affidavit filed Oct. 11 by investigator Jeremy Damren of the fire marshal’s office alleges the brothers wanted to get revenge on Michael Nichols, 27, of Madison, whom they believed had stolen marijuana plants from a legal grow operation. The car that was destroyed, a 2008 Chevy Cobalt, was owned by Nichols’ girlfriend, Sara Cookson, 25. The car was parked at Cookson’s home at 8 Middle St., Madison, according to the affidavit.
When the car was set ablaze, it was about 5 feet from an occupied three-unit apartment house, according to the court document. Firefighters saved the house.
The brothers allegedly obtained an empty 40-once Hurricane beer bottle, filled it with gasoline and, after breaking a car window with a rock, tossed the bottle inside, burning the car completely. They used an old sock as a wick for the fire bomb, according to the affidavit.
Investigators found the empty beer bottle that smelled of gasoline, a Bic lighter and a rock that they say was used to break the car window.
Although the car was owned by Cookson, police say the target was Nichols.
Nichols is out on bail on burglary charges, but he has not been charged in connection with the alleged arson case, according to the investigator’s affidavit. Nichols was charged in March with several burglaries in which a Chevy Cobalt reportedly was used as a getaway car.
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