LEWISTON — A woman has been charged with arson after police came upon an unoccupied child’s stroller that had been set on fire Thursday morning on Summer Street.
Kris Burgess Androscoggin County Jail photo
Kris Burgess, 32, of 87 Bartlett St., was charged with Class A arson for setting the stroller on fire. Investigators said that Burgess had no connection to the stroller but that she apparently lit it on fire as the stroller sat on an outdoor porch.
The police officers at the scene quickly doused the flames before they could spread to the rest of the home.
“Evidence at the scene concluded that accelerants had been poured on the porch but had not yet ignited,” police wrote in a press release.
Shortly after, they learned that a suspicious woman had been seen wandering in the area shortly before the stroller was found ablaze. An investigation led police to Burgess, who was brought in for questioning. She was arrested a short time later and taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.
Burgess lists addresses in Maine and Florida, although she has been in the area for at least a couple months. In September, she was arrested in Auburn on charges of assaulting an officer, assault, criminal threatening, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, violation of conditions of release and refusal to submit to arrest.
Those charges are still pending against her. When she was arrested Thursday, she was also charged with violating conditions of release set during after the earlier arrest.
Burgess was being held without bail Friday night at the county jail.
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