Police: Fugitive EMT accused of firebombings to return to CT
OLD SAYBROOK — The Torrington emergency medical technician accused of using Moltov cocktails to set fires at emergency services facilities across Connecticut, including Roxbury, last month was to return to the state Tuesday to face charges, according to police.
Officers with the Old Saybrook Police Department went to Northumberland County Jail in Coal Township, Pa, on Tuesday morning to pick up Richard White, a 37-year-old EMT from Torrington, officials said.
Police Chief Michael A. Spera said White will be charged with thirddegree arson and third-degree burglary. He will be held on a $150,000 bond and is to appear Wednesday in state Superior Court in Middletown.
“Today is the first step in Connecticut holding Richard White accountable for his crimes against public safety,” Spera said. “Any person who seeks to do harm to those responsible for saving human lives is a danger to society.”
Authorities said White allegedly set four fires on Feb. 27 that damaged a Roxbury home and emergency services facilities in Old Saybrook, Meriden and Roxbury. Hours before the fires, officials said White got in a fight with a fellow Hunter’s Ambulance employee after being placed on administrative leave in a disciplinary hearing in Meriden.
White fled the state after the fires, police said. He was taken into custody in Pennsylvania that night about 230 miles from Roxbury. He was held since his arrest as a fugitive from justice in Pennsylvania, police said.
The warrant held by Old Saybrook officers stems from one of the Feb. 27 incidents that targeted a Hunter’s Ambulance facility on Boston Post Road in Old Saybrook, according to police.
Spera said White illegally entered the facility where he lit and threw a Molotov cocktail that started a fire.
White is also the subject of a warrant held by Meriden police, Spera said, charging him with criminal attempt at first-degree arson and manufacturing of bombs.
Arrest warrants are pending with other law enforcement agencies in Connecticut.
Old Saybrook police also served a search-and-seizure warrant to take possession of White’s vehicle, which Spera said he used to flee the state the night of the incidents. The warrant also allowed police to seize White’s clothing and other items, Spera said.