AUGUSTA (AP) — A Maine man convicted of setting a topless coffee shop afire, destroying the business and endangering seven people, is going to prison for 30 years.
Fifty-one-year-old Raymond Bellavance Jr. did not speak at his sentencing Thursday. He has maintained his innocence and contends he was railroaded.
Prosecutors say he set the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro on fire because his former girlfriend was having a relationship with the owner.
Judge Michaela Murphy said she imposed the maximum sentence under state law because it was “sheer luck” that no one was killed, and because of Bellavance’s criminal record. Seven people, including two infants, were living in the building that formerly operated as a motel when the fire broke out in June 2009.
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