Enfield Man Charged With Arson in Thanksgiving House Fire

An Enfield man has been charged with arson in connection with a Thanksgiving Day fire that destroyed his family's home.

Herbert Marone III, 40, was charged Friday with third-degree arson on a warrant stemming from an investigation into the cause of the Nov. 22, 2012 fire at 22 Laurie Drive in the Whitacres section of Enfield. He was held on $100,000 bond, and was arraigned Monday in Enfield Superior Court.

An affidavit supporting Marone's arrest says he and his wife had been having marital problems for several years, and that he had been sleeping on a sofa in the basement for more than two years.

In Aug. 2012, Marone leased an apartment on Daro Drive, but apparently did not tell his wife about it for another month. He said he then moved most of his belongings into the apartment, but continued to sleep in the basement of the family residence nightly, the affidavit says.

Marone told detectives "he thought he was going to lose the house due to financial reasons," and admitted he "had not made a payment since 2011," the affidavit states.

Marone and his wife both told police they had argued the morning of the fire, and both said the wife and two children were outside waiting in the car for about 10 minutes prior to Marone leaving the house, the affidavit says.

Both parties told police they had been only gone about 10 minutes when they saw emergency vehicles heading into their neighborhood as they were getting gas at a nearby Pride station. Neighbors began calling Marone's wife's cell phone, telling her their house was on fire, the affidavit says.

North Thompsonville Fire Chief Earl Provencher determined the fire had started in the northeast corner of the basement, near a work bench and a dresser, over which hung Marone's wife's wedding gown. He said "the fire was suspicious as there was nothing he could find that would have caused an ignition in this area," and "an electrical fire would have taken longer than 15 minutes to cause the amount of fire he observed when he arrived," the affidavit states.

An electrical inspector concluded the blaze "was not the result, nor caused by, an electrical ignition source." Likewise, fire investigator Thomas Madigan's report stated, "The cause of this fire has been determined to be of human hand and intentionally set," according to the affidavit.

In a sworn written statement the day after the blaze, Marone told a detective he would take a polygraph exam. However, he did not return a pair of messages left by the detective; seven months later, Marone left a message for the detective saying he would not take the polygraph exam, the affidavit says.

The estimated property and content loss from the fire was approximately $100,000, the warrant states. Marone is the sole owner, according to town property records.