HAVERHILL — Police allege that a Lancaster Street man got so mad at his fellow tenants for keeping a messy yard that he tried to burn down their apartment house late Thursday night.
Patrick Belloise, 56, of 30 Lancaster St., was arrested around 12:30 a.m. yesterday and charged with attempted arson. At his arraignment yesterday, Judge Patricia Dowling ordered Belloise held in lieu of $5,000 cash bail. The judge continued the case until April 20. Belloise was taken to the Middleton jail after his arraignment.
The fire was reported a few minutes before midnight Thursday night. A tenant in the four-family dwelling pulled a burning couch from underneath a second-floor deck at the rear of the building, according to a report by Detective Carl Rogers.
Firefighters extinguished the fire and Deputy Chief William Laliberty called police. Rogers interviewed Belloise, who told the detective he was angry with the other tenants because they didn't clean up their messes in the yard, according to the report filed with the court.
Belloise said he wanted "to make a statement," Rogers wrote. The detective then arrested Belloise.
This is the second time in two weeks that Rogers and Laliberty have collaborated on an arson investigation. Rogers arrested David Gillespie, 45, of 19 Arlington St., after a fire did heavy damage to an eight-family house at 68 Pecker St. the night of March 4. Laliberty directed firefighters at that blaze, which left eight people homeless.
Rogers said in a report filed with the court that Gillespie admitted to him that he set the Pecker Street fire after seeing his former girlfriend with a new boyfriend. Gillespie also said the couple taunted him, according to Rogers' report.
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