Waterbury man charged with attempted arson involving a Molotov cocktail
Two fires are under investigation
July 29, 2023 | By Madeline Hughes | Correspondent Update Aug. 2: Vermont State Police say John Neville was cited on July 31 for violating conditions of release, violation of an abuse prevention order, unlawful mischief, and noise in the nighttime. It listed “various residents in the area of Loomis Hill Road” as the victims of these offenses. A court hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 3.
Original Post
A Waterbury man has been charged with attempted arson in a case involving an unexploded Molotov cocktail, while state fire investigators are looking into the causes of two recent fires that they believe are actual arsons.
One of the fires and the Molotov cocktail case have unfolded at a property on Sweet Road where state police have responded recently to multiple incidents including an assault stemming from an ongoing feud between potential associates in a developing cannabis business, court records show.
The most recent development happened early in the morning last Sunday, July 23, when the Waterbury Fire Department was called to a fire on lower Loomis Hill Road.
“We have been to a few fires [this month] that were referred to Vermont State Police investigators,” said Waterbury Fire Chief Gary Dillon. “We don’t have any other information because we don’t assist with the investigations.”
The fire that engulfed and destroyed an 8x10-foot storage shed around 2 a.m. Sunday at 152 Loomis Hill Road is the second the Waterbury department has referred to Vermont State Police within a few weeks. Earlier in the month, a trailer at 1459 Sweet Road was destroyed by fire in the overnight hours of June 30, Dillon confirmed. “It was a complete loss. It is under investigation by the Department of Public Safety,” Dillon said.
The two properties are just over three miles apart in Waterbury Center – the Loomis Hill location owned by Carrie Marshia, 57, is adjacent to Hope Davey Park and close by the Waterbury Center fire station; the Sweet Road property owned by Glenn Andersen, 50, is across from the Hunger Mountain hiking trail parking lot. So it is an “area” Vermont State Police are “working on,” said Detective Sgt. Clark Lombardi in a phone interview on Wednesday. Lombardi is investigating the Loomis Hill Road case, another investigator is handling the trailer fire.
The Vermont State Police commander in charge of the Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit says investigators are working on both suspicious fire cases in tandem. “They’re working to figure out if there are connections to these fires,” said Capt. Shawn Loan in an interview on Friday.
Steps involve lab analysis of materials at both scenes to help develop clues to the fires’ origins and causes, Loan added.
When asked whether the public should be concerned given that the two fires happened within relatively close times and locations, Loan said that he does not believe the incidents point to a potential trend or threat to the general public.
“I don't feel people in Waterbury are in danger of a serial arsonist,” Loan stated. “I’m not expecting multiple fires to happen in Waterbury with an arsonist on the loose.”
Police issued a press release asking the public for information about the Loomis Hill Road fire that “is believed to be the result of direct human involvement and the circumstances surrounding the fire are considered suspicious.”
The release mentioned the Vermont Arson Tip Award Program that offers rewards of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest in an arson case. People may call 800-32-ARSON with tips. The program is separate from the state police and uses funding from insurance companies to pay its rewards.
Multiple Sweet Road incidents
Investigators did not issue a press release about the earlier fire on Sweet Road, although a state police spokesman did confirm that there was an investigation. Loan on Friday said he did not know why that was the case and that he needed to check with the investigator for more details. He did describe it as an active arson inquiry, however.
The Sweet Road fire was among the first in a string of criminal incidents that have played out at that location this month. On July 2, Vermont State Police arrested John Neville, 51, of Waterbury, at the property after an altercation with the owner, Glenn Andersen. On July 13, Neville pleaded not guilty in Vermont Superior Court in Barre to misdemeanor charges of unlawful trespass and assault.
According to an affidavit by Trooper Daniel Bohnyak, Neville allegedly hit Andersen over the head with an alcohol bottle and the two threw punches until Andersen and his son Beck Andersen, 20, were able to get Neville to the ground. When police arrived, Andersen told troopers that he “suspected John [Neville] of burning down [a] staff housing trailer and shooting [a] gun on their property in the past few days,” Bohnyak wrote in the affidavit filed with the court.
The court filing included a statement from Neville’s wife, Jennifer Neville, claiming that as a result of the physical struggle, her husband suffered nine broken ribs, a concussion, and a bruise to his heart.
A little over a week later, Neville returned to the property.
Detective Trooper Mathew Nadeau describes this incident in a court affidavit. Beck Andersen had placed surveillance cameras on the property because of the family’s worries about Neville. On the morning of July 11, the Andersens called the police after they saw suspicious activity on surveillance footage. In the video shown to troopers and described in Nadeau’s report, Neville is seen on the property carrying something.
“John places the item, then takes out a handheld butane torch, lights the item on fire and leaves,” Nadeau wrote.
Andersen, his son and their dog were home at the time, police noted. The item was left on a shelf inside a shed structure attached to the home, Nadeau described. It was identified as a “Molotov cocktail” made in a beer growler container, according to the court documents. The detective’s description of the container noted that it held pieces of yellow posted-property signs matching those that Glenn Andersen had placed around his property warning people not to trespass.
Later that same night around 10 p.m., Glenn Andersen again called police saying Neville was driving past his home honking the horn repeatedly. Troopers returned to the Sweet Road home to hear a horn sound for approximately 15 seconds as a pickup truck passed the residence, police said. Troopers stopped the vehicle to find Neville driving it.
Police arrested Neville and cited him for multiple offenses: a felony of attempted first-degree arson, misdemeanors of unlawful trespass, and two counts of reckless endangerment. In addition, he was cited for the misdemeanors of driving under the influence (second offense and test refusal), negligent operation of a vehicle, aggravated disorderly conduct, and violating conditions of release from the July 2 assault, according to court records.
On July 14, several days after the Molotov cocktail was found on Andersen’s property, police searched Neville's residence, “during which additional evidence was located and seized,” including a lighter similar to the one seen in the video, a beer growler similar to the one used for the Molotov cocktail, and clothing matching what the individual in the video appeared to be wearing, police said.
Attempted arson charge
This Thursday, July 27, Neville was arranged in criminal court on the citations issued July 11 including the attempted arson felony charge. During that court hearing, the state filed a motion to hold him without bail because of the nature of the 11 charges he is facing.
Neville pleaded not guilty to the charges. Court documents indicated that the question of whether to hold Neville without bail would be heard at a subsequent hearing, although it was not clear when that would take place.
Of all the charges Neville is facing, the arson is the only felony offense with possible jail time of 2-10 years and a possible fine of up to $2,000. The others are misdemeanor offenses that combined carry potential penalties of up to more than 8 years in jail and possible fines of more than $8,000, according to court records.
Gun purchase blocked
In addition to the incidents on Sweet Road, court documents also detail that Neville attempted to buy a 12-gauge shotgun from Parro’s Gun Shop in Waterbury on July 16. He was unsuccessful due to a recently enacted three-day waiting period that went into effect on July 1. Multiple temporary orders stopped the sale, resulting in Neville being escorted out of the gun shop, according to the motion to hold him without bail.
After his arraignment on Thursday, Neville was released with strict conditions, including a curfew at his Loomis Hill home from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, and he is barred from interacting with the Andersens.
Nadeau’s affidavit notes that he was submitting evidence from social media documenting the simmering dispute between Neville and Andersen. The “bases of the dispute are unclear, but appear to involve money, property, and a cannabis business,” Nadeau wrote to the court.
The detective summarizes interviews with Andersen and others that outline a business relationship between Andersen and Neville regarding development of a cannabis cultivation business at the Davis dairy farm on Kneeland Flats Road. Neville is a licensed cultivator in Vermont and Maine, Nadeau wrote, and had worked with Andersen in planning for a new cultivation business at the farm. Their relationship had soured, according to the interviews Nadeau conducted, with disagreements on social media escalating to in-person confrontations at Andersen’s property.
In addition, Nadeau’s report states that testing on the liquid recovered from the unexploded Molotov cocktail was completed on July 19: “The included test report identified the liquid as gasoline.”
Waterbury Roundabout reporter Lisa Scagliotti contributed to this report.