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    Saturday, April 20, 2024

    Man accused in Old Saybrook arson to be extradited back to Conn.

    The ambulance employee accused of setting four fires across the state in a span of hours last month was being extradited from Pennsylvania back to Connecticut Tuesday to face charges in connection with one of the arsons.

    Old Saybrook police said in a news release that Richard White, 37, of Torrington, has being charged with third-degree arson and third-degree burglary after he illegally entered a Hunter’s Ambulance facility in their town on Feb. 27 and lit and threw a Molotov cocktail that started a fire.

    He’s also wanted in Meriden, where police have an arrest warrant charging him with criminal attempt at first-degree arson and manufacturing of bombs for throwing an “already lit object” out of his driver’s side window and striking a Hunter’s Ambulance building in the city less than an hour after the Old Saybrook incident.

    The other two fires White has been linked to happened later that same day in Roxbury, at a firehouse and a private residence. Additional charges related to those incidents are expected to follow.

    Meriden police said last month White had been in a fight with another employee at the Hunter’s Ambulance office in Meriden the morning of Feb. 27. It followed a disciplinary hearing that resulted in White being placed on administrative leave, police said.

    White fled the state but was apprehended by Pennsylvania State Police later in the evening on the same day of his alleged crimes and has been held in jail there since.

    Officers from Old Saybrook traveled to the Northumberland County Jail in Coal Township, Pa., Tuesday to bring White back to their department for processing. He will be held on $150,000 bond and is expected to be arraigned in Superior Court in Middletown Wednesday.

    “Today is the first step in Connecticut holding Richard White accountable for his crimes against public safety,” Old Saybrook police Chief Michael A. Spera said. “Any person who seeks to do harm to those responsible for saving human lives is a danger to society.”

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