Celtruda to serve 10-14 years in Mystic arson cases

William Celtruda, a probationary volunteer firefighter who wanted to impress his colleagues, pleaded no contest this morning to torching three houses in Mystic last year and will be sentenced in January to up to 14 years in prison.

The 23-year-old has been incarcerated since August 2008, when he confessed to setting fire to an unoccupied, historic home at 23 Library St. on July and to occupied homes at 15 Little Gull Lane and 19 West Mystic. Ave. on Aug. 12.

This morning, in New London Superior Court, he accepted a plea offer in which he will be sentenced to 10 to 14 years in prison for one count of first-degree arson, two counts of second-degree arson and one count of first-degree criminal mischief. The criminal mischief charges stems from an unrelated incident in which he vandalized an ex-girlfriend’s truck in Waterford.

Celtruda had been a probationary member of the Mystic Fire Department for six to seven months and was getting teased about not having responded to fires. In a written statement to police, he said he began to think about "lighting houses on fire to prove himself to the fire department," according to prosecutor Lawrence J. Tytla.

 He set fire to the Library Street home at in the early morning of July 25 after drinking beer with fellow firefighters. He said he placed paper towels inside a rolled-up carpet on the front porch then drove to the Hoxie fire station to wait for the call. He was one of the first people to respond. The home’s roof and a section of the porch collapsed with firefighters in close proximity, putting them at great risk, Tytla said.

Celtruda stood with his head bowed as homeowner Gretchen Chipperini read a lengthy statement on the impact of the crime to Judge Susan B. Handy. Chipperini described the painstaking work she had done to restore the home over an eight year period and talked of the prices personal items she lost in the fire.

"This house represented a labor of love that cannot be quantified or replaced," Chipperini said.

The prosecutor said he knows Chipperini is not happy with the plea agreement, but that no amount of incarceration can make her or the other victims whole.

"I obviously agree with her as to the seriousness of these crimes," Tytla said. In addition to Chipperini’s financial and personal losses, "the other two victims of this crime have obviously had severe emotional impact from their homes being set on fire," Tytla said.  

Celtruda, who was again looking to impress his colleagues on Aug. 12 when he went to the Little Gull Lane home and set it on fire while its occupants, a couple and their young children, slept. His fire company was not called out to that scene, since it was in a different fire district, "so he went to the West Mystic Ave. home to give it another shot," Tytla said. The owner had heard someone running up her driveway immediately before the fire began.

Celtruda and the fire company face civil actions as a result of the blazes. The nolo contendere, or "no contest" plea is often used in lieu of a guilty plea so that it cannot be used as an admission of guilty in a civil prosecution. Nevertheless, Judge Handy made a finding of "guilty" after accepting Celtruda’s pleas.

The plea deal calls for a sentence of 20 years in prison, suspended after 14 years served and five years probation. At Celtruda’s Jan. 12 sentencing, defense attorney Anthony Basilica has the right to argue for a shorter prison term, but Celtruda will serve at least 10 years, which is the mandatory minimum sentence for first-degree arson.