AUGUSTA – Raymond Bellavance Jr. was attracted to Krista MacIntyre because he had good sex with her, said an arson investigator who interviewed Bellavance several months after a fire destroyed the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop, where Mac- Intyre was a waitress. But the relationship was rocky.

Kenneth MacMaster of the state Fire Marshal’s Office testified Wednesday that Bellavance told him the relationship was on-and-off. Bellavance told him he broke up with MacIntyre around the time of the fire because she was “the world’s biggest liar.”

Bellavance also made allegations about prostitution, an underground bar scene and drug activity at the coffee shop on Route 3 in Vassalboro, MacMaster said.

Bellavance told MacMaster that he wanted MacIntyre to quit the waitressing job. He went to the coffee shop on March 9, 2009, to try to get her fired. Prosecutors allege that Bellavance was jealous and didn’t want Mac- Intyre working there.

The testimony Wednesday in Kennebec County Superior Court centered around Bellavance’s statements to MacMaster on March 31, 2010. It was the fifth day of Bellavance’s trial on two arson charges.

The trial will resume at 8:30 a.m. Friday. Justice Michaela Murphy told the eight women and six men on the jury late Wednesday that new information had arisen, and that the state and the defense needed a brief period to review it. She did not provide details.

Once jurors left, defense attorneys arranged to listen to a digital recording Wednesday night and have the contents transcribed.

Most of Wednesday’s testimony came from MacMaster, the case’s primary investigator.

He said the fire that destroyed the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop on June 3, 2009, started outside the rear of the former motel and was concentrated in the center of the building that housed the coffee shop.

Seven people, including the property owner, Donald Crabtree, escaped safely from the fire, which was reported just before 1 a.m.

MacMaster determined that the fire was caused by “intentional human element — arson,” that damage was heaviest on the building’s exterior, indicating that’s where it started, and that gasoline was the accelerant.

He said he found a red plastic gas can from the scene and swabbed it for DNA evidence. Forensic scientists at the Maine State Crime Lab testified previously that Bellavance’s DNA wasn’t found on the gas can.

In response to questioning by Bellavance’s attorney, Andrews Campbell, MacMaster said no tests were done on other items found near the fire scene: a lighter from the front lawn, a beer can from behind the property and a black bandana from the front parking lot.

Troy Hallett, 43, formerly of Hallowell and now imprisoned for burglary and theft, testified that Bellavance told him he used gloves to handle the gas can.

Campbell and Deputy District Attorney Alan Kelley agreed that Hallett made no mention of gloves during a taped interview with MacMaster.

When Campbell offered Hallett a typed copy of that interview, Hallett declined, saying, “I don’t read.”

MacMaster first interviewed Bellavance on March 31, 2010. MacMaster said that when he was finished with the interview he had probable cause to arrest Bellavance on the arson charge, but wanted to check more.

MacMaster said Bellavance denied setting the fire throughout the interview.

Charges were filed against Bellavance a few days later, but by then he had left the state. Bellavance was arrested in Spartanburg, S.C., on May 9, 2010.

Kennebec Journal Staff Writer Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631 or at

badams@centralmaine.com