4 Teens charged in fire at closed hospital
Jack Encarnacao
HANSON - Police have sought criminal complaints against four teenagers as they investigate Sunday's fire that destroyed a vacant building at the closed Plymouth County Hospital.
The complaints were sought yesterday in Plymouth District Court against Eric Dean, 17, of 355 Homeland Drive, Whitman; Nikki Mason, 17, of 345 Essex St., Whitman; and two 16-year-old girls, one from Whitman and one from East Bridgewater.
Dean and Mason are juniors at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. Because the other two suspects are juveniles, police did not release their names.
Police said all four admitted setting the fire. Each will face charges of burning a building, breaking and entering with the intent to commit a felony, criminal trespassing, malicious destruction of property causing more than $250 in damage and conspiracy to commit a felony, police said.
The teens will be summoned to court for arraignment. The court was processing the complaints yesterday and had yet to schedule the arraignments.
Police Chief Edward Savage said the security director for the Whitman-Hanson schools, William Sweeney, developed information Monday about who was responsible for the fire.
A police investigation led to the statements made by the four teens, Savage said.
The fire Sunday night destroyed a yellow clapboard building that once housed nurses at the hospital, which closed more than a decade ago. The building that burned is behind the main hospital building, which was not damaged in the fire.
Whitman-Hanson School Superintendent John McEwan said yesterday that he had not heard full details about the allegations against the students. When told of the charges, he said the students might be barred from school.
Once he is notified of a felony charge against a student, he directs the high school principal and security head to decide whether the student should be dismissed from school, McEwan said.
"I think it's sad that any student does this type of thing,'' he said. "Fire is a very scary thing. It's not something that kids realize the consequences of, and the danger it creates. The school will take a very strict viewpoint when we get word about the felony charges.''
The fire put the spotlight back on property that has been at the center of a legal battle between Hanson and Baran Partners, a Wellesley development company.
The former tuberculosis hospital closed in 1992. Seven years later, the town bought it from Plymouth County for $950,000, hoping to attract a developer to create housing for the elderly. Baran Partners purchased 22 acres of the 56-acre site from the town in 2001.
After Baran defaulted on payments and failed to begin construction on time, the town moved to get the land back. A failed bankruptcy bid by Baran held up the town's effort until late July.
Baran is responsible for securing the property it bought and for maintaining insurance coverage.
Because of safety concerns, the town hired Joseph Saccone & Son to knock down what remained of the fire-damaged building. The town tried unsuccessfully to reach representatives of Baran Partners about the matter, Hanson Executive Secretary Michael Finglas said.
The fire was the second suspicious fire at the former tuberculosis hospital in 16 months. A fire in April 2004 believed to have been caused by vandals partly destroyed the hospital's kitchen wing.
The complaints were sought yesterday in Plymouth District Court against Eric Dean, 17, of 355 Homeland Drive, Whitman; Nikki Mason, 17, of 345 Essex St., Whitman; and two 16-year-old girls, one from Whitman and one from East Bridgewater.
Dean and Mason are juniors at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. Because the other two suspects are juveniles, police did not release their names.
Police said all four admitted setting the fire. Each will face charges of burning a building, breaking and entering with the intent to commit a felony, criminal trespassing, malicious destruction of property causing more than $250 in damage and conspiracy to commit a felony, police said.
The teens will be summoned to court for arraignment. The court was processing the complaints yesterday and had yet to schedule the arraignments.
Police Chief Edward Savage said the security director for the Whitman-Hanson schools, William Sweeney, developed information Monday about who was responsible for the fire.
A police investigation led to the statements made by the four teens, Savage said.
The fire Sunday night destroyed a yellow clapboard building that once housed nurses at the hospital, which closed more than a decade ago. The building that burned is behind the main hospital building, which was not damaged in the fire.
Whitman-Hanson School Superintendent John McEwan said yesterday that he had not heard full details about the allegations against the students. When told of the charges, he said the students might be barred from school.
Once he is notified of a felony charge against a student, he directs the high school principal and security head to decide whether the student should be dismissed from school, McEwan said.
"I think it's sad that any student does this type of thing,'' he said. "Fire is a very scary thing. It's not something that kids realize the consequences of, and the danger it creates. The school will take a very strict viewpoint when we get word about the felony charges.''
The fire put the spotlight back on property that has been at the center of a legal battle between Hanson and Baran Partners, a Wellesley development company.
The former tuberculosis hospital closed in 1992. Seven years later, the town bought it from Plymouth County for $950,000, hoping to attract a developer to create housing for the elderly. Baran Partners purchased 22 acres of the 56-acre site from the town in 2001.
After Baran defaulted on payments and failed to begin construction on time, the town moved to get the land back. A failed bankruptcy bid by Baran held up the town's effort until late July.
Baran is responsible for securing the property it bought and for maintaining insurance coverage.
Because of safety concerns, the town hired Joseph Saccone & Son to knock down what remained of the fire-damaged building. The town tried unsuccessfully to reach representatives of Baran Partners about the matter, Hanson Executive Secretary Michael Finglas said.
The fire was the second suspicious fire at the former tuberculosis hospital in 16 months. A fire in April 2004 believed to have been caused by vandals partly destroyed the hospital's kitchen wing.
This article was
written by Jack Encarnacao
on Friday, October 21