JAY — A local man is accused of setting fire to a house owned by his mother for the second time since Aug. 9, 2017.
Devin Penney Franklin County Detention Center photo
State fire investigators arrested Devin C. Penney, 24, of Jay was on a warrant charging Class A arson. A conviction on an arson charge carries a maximum 30 years in prison and up to a $50,000 fine.
Penney had recently completed treatment at a health facility in southern Maine after a fire was started July 23 outside a house on Intervale Road in Jay, according to a news release from Katharine England, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
The fire primarily damaged the siding and outside of the home, as well as damaging property from former housemates, who have since moved out of the residence, according to the release. His mother owns the house but no longer lives there.
Penney was accused of setting a small fire in a garage at the same house in 2017, Sgt. Kenneth Grimes of the Office of the State Fire Marshal said in 2017.
Penney lit a cloth or paper on fire with a cigarette lighter, Grimes said then.
The split-level house, with a garage under the living quarters, at 229 Intervale Road was leased by Penney’s mother, Sabrina Penney, who had lived there with her four children at the time, according to Grimes.
Jay Fire Rescue Chief Mike Booker said the fire was small and was able to be put out by a fire extinguisher in 2017. No damage was done, but firefighters had to clear smoke from the building, he said.
In January 2018, Penney pleaded guilty to charges of domestic violence reckless conduct and criminal mischief in the 2017 case. Charges of arson and aggravated criminal mischief were dismissed, according to court documents.
He was sentenced to 364 days with all but five months suspended and given a year of probation on the domestic violence charge. He was sentenced to 180 days with all of it suspended on the criminal mischief charge. He was also given a year of probation, which was consecutive with the first year.
Penney is being held at the Franklin County Detention Center in Farmington in lieu of $3,000 bail. He will go before a judge Wednesday afternoon.
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