Smoke in boys’ room was minor fire, but arson is the charge
WOONSOCKET — He said it was an accident, but an 18-year-old student who allegedly lit paper towels on fire in a lavatory at the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center Thursday will have to answer to a felony charge as a result.
Jeremy Beausoleil, of 324 Willow St., is free on personal recognizance after he was arraigned in Sixth District Court Thursday on one count of first-degree arson. He’s due back in court for another hearing on June 8, according to the judiciary’s web site.
School Resource Officer Joseph A. Zinni said Beausoleil admitted setting fire to what he called “a napkin” and seemed very contrite about it.
“I am very familiar with Jeremy and speak to him almost daily in my capacity as school resource officer,” Zinni said in a report. “Without questioning him about the incident Jeremy became very upset and stated, ‘I’m sorry Officer Zinni, I was just playing and it got out of control.’”
Assistant Principal Leonora Hughes was the first to learn of the incident, about 11:30 a.m., from another student who told her there was smoke in the boys’ room. She confirmed that the fire was already out, but she called the Woonsocket Fire Department and the Woonsocket Police Department to assess the situation.
There was no structural damage to the lavatory.
The same student who informed Hughes there was smoke in the bathroom later told her that Beausoleil admitted he lit the fire. The classmate told her Beausoleil extinguished the fire by throwing the burnt paper in a sink, dousing it with water, and then throwing the debris in a wastebasket.
When Hughes and other administrators confronted Beausoleil, he “was forthcoming and told me he lit the napkin on fire and immediately got scared and put it out in the sink,”