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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023 newspaper articles re fireThur Kevin Conlon say City Editor Comm,,unle dd c er , 2023 news@cortlandstandard com 3Man, accusect of setting trailer ablaze with women inside y LILY BYRNE "The defendant, with intent Officers ' determined Clark "The defendant did pile up Clark was'' located in Trux- without bail. Staff Reporter to cause the death of another barricaded the entrance and debris on the front porch and ton on foot Sept. 28, and was He was arrested five days pri- ibyrne@cortlandstandard.com. person, did attempt to cause exit to the residence and set it in front of the main entrance to arrested at 7:35 p.m. with the or to the fire for burglarizing a A Truxton man has been ac- the death of Allestir L. Forest on fire, due to a dispute regard- the mobile home and did ignite assistance of the Cortland Po- residential home. cured of barricading two people by recklessly engaging in con- ing property that was inside the the debris' with gasoline,; which lice Department, Homer Police As of Friday; the residence inside a trailer and setting it on, duct which i created a grave risk residence. He then fled the scene the defendant believed to be oc- Department and the New York still smelled of smoke. While fire. of death to Allestir L. Forest and a warrant was put out for his cupied at the time, and was, in ` State Police. ; the majority of the outside strut - Matthew S. Clark, 37, of and the defendant, while doing arrest on the charge of second- fact, occupied by Casey K. Kir- During the arrest he was also ture of the trailer is still intact, Cheningo Solon Pond Road in so, did engage in such conduct I degree arson. ` key and Allestir L. Forest," the ` found' to be in possession of a nearly the entire inside and out- Truxton, was charged with sec- under circumstances evincing a A few days dater, the District indictment says. controlled substance. He was er-facing' wall was destroyed. ond-degree attempted murder, depraved indifference to human Attomey's, office presented the A temporary order of protec- arraigned at 3:15 p.m. Friday in The empty shell of the resi- second-degree arson, second- life," the indictment says. ° case to the Cortland County, tion was granted' to these two Cortland County Court. dence, which is located in the, degree criminal mischief, first- On Sept.17, officers respond- Grand !Jury, who then indicted individuals, banning Clark from Clark has been arrested sever- back corner of the trailer park, degree reckless endangerment, ed to a residence at 11 Kingsley him with second-degree °at- their home, school, business and al times this year, for several dif- is surrounded by ash and vari- felonies; and ; seventh -degree Ave. at Penguin Trailer Park for tempted murder, second-degree places of employment. ferent misdemeanor and felony ous debris. Random items, such criminal' possession of a con- a structure' fire, a news release arson; second-degree' criminal The amount of damage caused level 'offenses, the release says, as autumn decor and a child's trolled substance, a rnisdemean- from the Cortland County Sher- mischief, first -degree reckless to the property was over $1,500, but due to the New York State umbrella, are littered throughout or. iff's Office says. endangerment, felonies. the indictment says. Bail 'Reform he was released the debris. 2023 daily No. 217 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2023 CORTLAND, N.Y. Truxton man charged with arson, attempted murder Lily Byrne/ Staff Reporter Pictured is the trailer at Penguin Trailer Park that police say burned due to arson on Sept. 17. By KEVIN CONLON City Editor kconlon@cortlandstandard.com A 37-year-old Truxton man was charged with attempted murder for setting a fire Sept. 17 to a mobile home on Kings- ley Avenue in Cortlandville and barricaded the main exit while two residents were inside, ac- cording to the Cortland County Sheriff's Office. Matthew S. Clark, of Chen- ingo Solon Pond Road, was charged with second-degree at- tempted murder, second-degree arson, second-degree criminal mischief, first -degree reckless endangerment, felonies; and seventh -degree criminal pos- session of a controlled sub- stance, a misdemeanor. Authorities were alerted to the fire in Penguin Trailer Park about 3:10 a.m. Sept. 17, ac- cording to the Cortlandville Fire Department, which said no injuries were reported. "On arrival firefighters en- countered heavy fire condi- tions on an enclosed attached porch," according to a fire de- partment news release issued shortly after the fire. "Firefight- ers attacked the bulk of the fire from the outside. The fire was knocked down in 15 minutes." "During the investigation it was determined that the De- fendant, Matthew S. Clark, barricaded the main entrance/ exit to the residence while two residents were inside the resi- dence," according to a news release issued early Friday afternoon by the Sheriff's Of- fice. "Mr. Clark then started the residence on fire over a dispute regarding property that was in- side the residence. Mr. Clark then fled the scene and was un- able to be located." An arrest warrant for the sec- ond-degree arson charge was issued for Clark. A few days later, the coun- ty District Attorney's Office presented the case in front of a grand jury, which indicted Clark on the attempted murder, arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment charges. Clark appeared Friday after- noon before County Court Jus- tice David Alexander, where a sealed indictment for the felony charges was opened. Clark's lawyer, Janice L. Stafford, en- tered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Stafford requested nominal bail for her client, saying he is unemployed and has no income or assets. See ARSON, page 6 ARSON continued from page 1 "He has nothing to his name," she said. Alexander went along with the recommendation of the county District Attorney's Of- fice, which asked for $250,000 cash, $500,000 bond or $1 mil- lion bond with 10% collateral. The causeof the fire was in- vestigated by the Cortlandville Fire Department, the state Fire Investigation Team and the county Sheriff's Office. Cor- tlandville Deputy Fire Chief Mike Biviano referred ques- tions on the cause of the fire to the Sheriff's Office. A Superior Court Warrant of Arrest was signed Thursday for Clark on the full list of charges that were later filed against him. The Sheriff's Office received a tip at 5:43 p.m. Thursday that Clark was seen in the Truxton area. Sheriffs officers found Clark, who fled on foot. With the assistance of the Cortland Police Department, Homer Po- lice Department and state po- lice,'the Sheriff's Office arrested Clark. During the arrest, Clark was found to be in possession of an unspecified controlled sub- stance, according to police. Sheriff' Mark Helms' noted that Clark has been arrested several times this year for mis- demeanors and felonies but, due to state bail reform, he was released on his own recogni- zance. Before Friday, Clark' was arrested most recently for burglarizing a home on Sept.', 12, five days before the arson, and released pending a future' court appearance, according to Helms. Lt. Garry Williams, a Sher- iff's Office investigator; noted Friday afternoon that one of the victims of the arson received a cut foot while fleeing the fire.' Williams declined to identify; the residents or release addi- tional details of the case, saying he did not want to compromise' the investigation. As of Friday morning, the mobile home where the fire oc- curred still smelled of smoke. While the majority of the ex- terior structure of the mobile home is still intact, nearly the entire inside and one 'exterior wall were destroyed. The empty shell of the resi- dence, which is located in the back corner of the mobile home park, is surrounded by ash and various debris. Random items, such as autumn decor and a child's umbrella, are littered throughout the lot. The Sheriff's Office on Friday also charged Clark with third- degree grand larceny for the unrelated theft of a vehicle from Hope Lake Lodge at 2177 Clutie Road in Virgil. He was arrested on that charge at 11:03 a.m. Fri- day while awaiting arraignment in County Jail on the attempted murder and arson charges. The vehicle, which was later recovered unoccupied with no one 'around it, was reportedi missing on Sept. 18 and police` determined it was taken at 6 p.m. the previous day, the day of the mobile home fire. Stafford entered a not guilty plea for Clark on the grand larceny charge. She requested nominal bail for that case and Assistant District Attorney Richard Van Donsel agreed,; but Alexander decided to re- mand Clark to jail with no bail set. The judge said he would be willing to reconsider that deci- sion later. The larceny case will be pro- cessed in Virgil Town Court. Staff reporter Lily Byrne con- tributed to this article.