Investigators said 23-year-old Elijah Yeaton was angry as the result of a domestic argument when he set the car ablaze on Knox Street shortly after 9 p.m.
Lewiston Fire investigator Paul Ouellette said the car caught fire when a pile of clothes was heaped behind it and then set ablaze. When police and fire crews first arrived, the car was fully engulfed.
Firefighters quickly snuffed out the flames, but there was extensive damage to the rear portion of the car, owned by a man who lives nearby. The car was considered a total loss.
Ouellette was joined in his investigation by detectives from the Lewiston Police Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Several witnesses were interviewed and Yeaton was charged after he was taken to the police station for questioning.
He was being held at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn Friday night on $3,000 cash bail.
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